| |
| THERE were ninety and nine that safely lay | |
| In the shelter of the fold; | |
| But one was out on the hills away, | |
| Far off from the gates of gold, | |
| Away on the mountains wild and bare, | 5 |
| Away from the tender Shepherd’s care. | |
| |
| “Lord, thou hast here thy ninety and nine: | |
| Are they not enough for thee?” | |
| But the Shepherd made answer: “’T is of mine | |
| Has wander’d away from me; | 10 |
| And although the road be rough and steep | |
| I go to the desert to find my sheep.” | |
| |
| But none of the ransom’d ever knew | |
| How deep were the waters cross’d, | |
| Nor how dark was the night that the Lord pass’d through | 15 |
| Ere he found his sheep that was lost. | |
| Out in the desert he heard its cry— | |
| Sick and helpless, and ready to die. | |
| |
| “Lord, whence are those blood-drops all the way, | |
| That mark out the mountain track?” | 20 |
| “They were shed for one who had gone astray | |
| Ere the Shepherd could bring him back.” | |
| “Lord, whence are thy hands so rent and torn?” | |
| “They are pierced to-night by many a thorn.” | |
| |
| But all through the mountains, thunderriven, | 25 |
| And up from the rocky steep, | |
| There rose a cry to the gate of heaven, | |
| “Rejoice! I have found my sheep!” | |
| And the angels echoed around the throne, | |
| “Rejoice, for the Lord brings back his own!” | 30 |
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