Classic Poem

—I WAS a wandering sheep,
—I did not love the fold;
I did not love my Shepherd's voice,
—I would not be controlled.
—I was a wayward child,
—I did not love my home,
I did not love my Father's voice,
—I loved afar to roam.

—The Shepherd sought his sheep;
—The Father sought his child;
They followed me o'er vale and hill,
—O'er deserts waste and wild.
—They found me night to death,
—Famished, and faint, and lone;
They bound me with the bands of love;
—They saved the wandering one.

—They spoke in tender love,
—They raised my drooping head;
They gently closed my bleeding wounds,
—My fainting soul they fed.
—They washed my filth away,
—They made me clean and fair;
They brought me to my home in peace,
—The long-sought wanderer.

—Jesus my Shepherd is,
—'Twas he that loved my soul;
'Twas he that washed me in his blood,
—'Twas he that made me whole;
—'Twas he that sought the lost,
—That found the wandering sheep;
'Twas he that brought me to the fold,
—'Tis he that still doth keep.

—I was a wandering sheep,
—I would not be controlled;
But now I love my Shepherd's voice,
—I love, I love the fold.
—I was a wayward child,
—I once preferred to roam;
But now I love my Father's voice,
—I love, I love his home.