Poems (Coolidge)/The Shepherd Good

by Helen Elizabeth Coolidge

THE SHEPHERD GOOD

(Suggested by a sermon)

A Shepherd good like unto thee
In gentle, watchful ministry,
This I may be if I abide,
O Saviour, ever at thy side.

The wide, wide world may be the fold;
The sheep? no name should I withhold;
They number all who need my care,
The torn, the bruised are everywhere.

The "waters still," the "pastures green,"
May be my strength on which they lean;
My voice! Oh, may each wanderer heed;
My table those ahungered feed.

Oh, make my love so full, complete,
That for thy service I am meet;
A shepherd's sacrifice be mine,
Till,—this life lost,—I find—divine.