Crime Expert BURL BARER. Edgar Award Winner and NYT Bestselling Author

The Silly Little Poem I wrote that went world wide! Happy Ayamiha!

Ayam-i-Ha! IT IS A HOLIDAY!

12 years ago, Gretchen Hewitt asked me to write something special for Baha'i childrens class to explain the holiday called "Ayam-i-Ha" ..so I did!  This fun conversation between two kids has now been reprinted and performed all over the world! How about that?

So, here it is

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I'm feeling quite happy,
I'm feeling quite fine.
It's Ayyam-i-Ha, 
The days outside time!

Days outside time?
That makes no sense at all!
You mean no watch on your wrist?
No clock on the wall?
How can you have days outside time
That makes no sense, no reason, no rhyme.
Besides, if I may say so, and I certainly will,
If you think there's no time, you must be quite ill.

I'm not sick in the head, nor home sick in bed,
Days outside time,
What a relief
No time for sadness, worry or grief!

You are silly as can be,
I must insist,
Days outside time can never exist!

Oh, tell me then, stand right up and speak,
what Baha'i month this is, what Baha'i day of the week? 

Is it the first day of Speech, Glory or  Splendor, Knowledge, or Questions, one or another? No, these days have no months or weeks to be in,
So these days are outside time --- does that make your head spin?

Days outside time what a strange thing to say.
Time is how we measure the length of a day.
Besides, time is important, I'm here to shout
Time is something I don't want to run out!

You can't run out of what isn't there,
If you're bald all your life, you don't miss your hair.

That makes no sense either, you're making me laugh.
But explain this much faster, cut it in half.

Ok ok, if you say so.
I'll tell you right now, and then you can go.
Ayyam-i-Ha is all about fun
And kindness, charity
And us all being one.
People are often in so much of a  hurry
Their life is a mess, a run around flurry
They have so little time to get things done,
everything is half-baked, and left most undone
But these days outside time are special as can be,
For these special days set us all free.
They remind us of love, and thinking of others,
Helping our moms, dads, sisters and brothers.
Days outside time give you time by the double
Where there is love, there's always enough time, and nothing is too much
trouble.

Say that again, I like what I heard,
Say it slowly, word by word.

"Where there is love, nothing is too much trouble, and there's always
enough time" Abdu'l-Baha

Oh, I think I finally understand.
Ayyam-i-Ha is really quite grand
Days of kindness, joy and  delight
 From the start of the day 'till the last thing at night.

You got it now, my happy new friend
Time isn't rock solid, it was made to bend
Love makes time go quickly, or slow down to a crawl,
Because where there is love, there's always enough time, and nothing is too
much trouble at all.

I'm feeling quite happy,
I'm feeling quite fine
It's Ayyam-i-Ha,
The days outside time

©2000 by Burl Barer
all rights reserved

 

HEAD SHOT IS NOW AVAILABLE!

NOW AVAILABLE 

HEAD SHOT -- the 2012 Edition, updated with more info and a snazzy new cover is available for order right now!

 

MASTERS OF TRUE CRIME -- edited by R. Barri Flowers, various "Masters of True Crime" contribute some of their favorite crimes and investigations, including Burl Barer (that's me!) This one is also available for advance order, and comes out in June, 2012.  

 What could be more exciting that a clever jewel theif caper in the manner of The Saint, The Falcon, Raffles, and other gentlemen thieves? Not much, and the satirical Falcon Arcaio adventure, THE TREASURE OF SIR THOMAS CONWAY by Burl Barer is only 99 cents right now on KINDLE
While you're at it, 99 cents also gets you my short story collection, NOBODY'S PERFECT on Kindle or Nook.

I'm in love with Stevie Cameron, and her husband and kids don't mind, honest!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...a serial killer in Vancouver, BC who, by any stretch of the imagination, is horrifyingly disgusting in demeanor and deed.  

Covering the case of one of North America’s most prolific serial killer gave Stevie Cameron access not only to the story as it unfolded over many years in two British Columbia courthouses, but also to information unknown to the police – and not in the transcripts of their interviews with Pickton – such as from Pickton’s long-time best friend, Lisa Yelds, and from several women who survived terrifying encounters with him. You will now learn what was behind law enforcement’s refusal to believe that a serial killer was at work.

Stevie Cameron first began following the story of missing women in 1998, when the odd newspaper piece appeared chronicling the disappearances of drug-addicted sex trade workers from Vancouver’s notorious Downtown Eastside. It was February 2002 before Robert William Pickton was arrested, and 2008 before he was found guilty, on six counts of second-degree murder. These counts were appealed and in 2010, the Supreme Court of Canada rendered its conclusion. The guilty verdict was upheld, and finally this unprecedented tale of true crime can be told.

Cameron has built her solid reputation on several blockbuster investigations.  When On the Take came out in 1994, it made author Stevie Cameron a household name in Canada. Her book’s revelations about the rampant corruption and petty greed of Brian Mulroney’s decade in the prime minister’s office reverberated for many years in the Canadian political landscape and helped destroy his Progressive Conservative Party. (The party, one of Canada’s most venerable, never recovered from Mulroney’s stewardship and eventually merged with the Canadian Alliance Party.)

Cameron, one of the country’s leading investigative reporters, was one of the few reporters to consistently question and probe the corruption of the Mulroney years. She has a wonderful ear for storytelling, which helps make On the Take a page-turner.

It should be obvious why I love Ms. Cameron, and I'm sure her husband and kids don't mind my admiration.  Stevie Cameron joins me Saturday for an hour on True Crime Uncensored. Listen!