He saw me, and he turned aside, As if he wished himself to hide : Then with his coat he made essay I followed him, and said, "My Friend, What ails you? wherefore weep you so ?" "Shame on me, Sir! this lusty Lamb, He makes my tears to flow. Today I fetched him from the rock; He is the last of all my flock. When I was young, a single Man, Though little given to care and thought, And then I married, and was rich Of sheep I numbered a full score, And every year increased my store. Year after year my stock it grew, And from this one, this single Ewe, Full fifty comely sheep I raised, As sweet a flock as ever grazed! Upon the mountain did they feed, They throve, and we at home did thrive. This lusty Lamb of all my store Is all that is alive ; And now I care not if we die, And perish all of poverty. Six Children, Sir! had I to feed, My pride was tamed, and in our grief They said I was a wealthy man; My sheep upon the mountain fed, And it was fit that thence I took Whereof to buy us bread." "Do this: how can we give to you,” They cried," what to the poor is due?" I sold a sheep, as they had said, And bought my little children bread, A woeful time it was for me, To see the end of all my gains, The pretty flock which I had reared With all my care and pains, To see it melt like snow away! Another still! and still another! A little lamb, and then its mother! It was a vein that never stopp'd Like blood-drops from my heart they dropp'd. Till thirty were not left alive They dwindled, dwindled, one by one, And I may say, that many a time I wished they all were gone : They dwindled one by one away; To wicked deeds I was inclined, And wicked fancies cross'd my mind; I went my work about. Oft-times I thought to run away; Sir! 'twas a precious flock to me, For daily with my growing store I loved my Children more and more. Alas! it was an evil time; God cursed me in my sore distress; I prayed, yet every day I thought I loved my Children less ; › |