I learned "Abou Beh Adhem" as a classroom English assignement in the 6th grade. I loved the message of the poem then and still love it today.

I also confess that the other reason why I have such warm regards for this poem was that after I had volunteered to recite it in front of the class, my teacher praised me for how well he felt I had done. He also said that I {then a shy, skinny kid} had an orator's voice & presence. That praise helped me find the courage & develop the confidence to become involved in more activities in my youth and adulthood that involved public speaking.

Teachers may not realize how much their words mean to their students. To this day, I'm grateful to that teacher for his words of praise and encouragement.

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In googling the words to that poem, I just found out that this poem is based on a real person:

"Ibrahim Bin Adham (ÇÈÑÇÀیã Èä ÇϪã) (death 777), also known as Abu Ben Adhem or Abou Ben Adhem was a Sufi saint"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibrahim_Bin_Adham