Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895.
Horatius Bonar 180889Lost but Found
E-Bonar-HoI
I did not love the fold;
I did not love my Shepherd’s voice,
I would not be controll’d.
I was a wayward child,
I did not love my home,
I did not love my Father’s voice,
I lov’d afar to roam.
The Father sought his child;
They follow’d me o’er vale and hill,
O’er deserts waste and wild.
They found me nigh to death,
Famish’d, and faint, and lone;
They bound me with the bands of love;
They sav’d the wandering one.
They rais’d my drooping head;
They gently clos’d my bleeding wounds,
My fainting soul they fed.
They wash’d my filth away,
They made me clean and fair;
They brought me to my home in peace,
The long-sought wanderer.
’T was he that lov’d my soul;
’T was he that wash’d me in his blood,
’T was he that made me whole;
’T was he that sought the lost,
That found the wandering sheep;
’T was he that brought me to the fold,
’T is he that still doth keep.
I would not be controll’d;
But now I love my Shepherd’s voice,
I love, I love the fold.
I was a wayward child,
I once preferr’d to roam;
But now I love my Father’s voice,
I love, I love his home.