Alfred H. Miles, ed. The Sacred Poets of the Nineteenth Century. 1907.
By Hymns and Meditations. IV. The Cry of the Lost AnsweredAnna Lætitia Waring (18201910)
T
The distant voice of one poor sheep astray;
It had forsaken Him, but He was true,
And listened for its bleating night and day.
Lost in a pitfall, yet alive it lay,
To breathe the faint sad call that He would know;
But now the slighted fold was far away,
And no approaching footstep soothed its woe.
Sunk under earth where all was cold and dim,
With nothing in it to console His love,
Only the miserable cry for Him.
His was the wounded heart, the bleeding limb
That safe and sound He would have joy’d to keep;
And still, amidst the flock at home with Him,
He was the Shepherd of that one lost sheep.
How more than precious His restoring care!
How sweet the pasture of His choice alone,
How bright the dullest path if He were there!
How well the pain of rescue it could bear,
Held in the shelter of His strong embrace!
With Him it would find herbage anywhere,
And springs of endless life in every place.
While evil beasts went disappointed by.
He bore it home along the fearful way
In the soft light of His rejoicing eye.
And thou fallen soul, afraid to live or die
In the deep pit that will not set thee free,
Lift up to Him the helpless homeward cry,
For all that tender love is seeking thee.