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124
THE WOLF WITHIN THE MOTHER'S SHEEPFOLD.
The black wolf waited for my pretty Lamb,
Watching some careless hour to seize his prey,
I traced his lurking footsteps every where,
Nor dared to gather hope from his delay.
Watching some careless hour to seize his prey,
I traced his lurking footsteps every where,
Nor dared to gather hope from his delay.
The little one was loath to leave her play,
And mocked with smiles the mournful looks of each;
Wildly she thrust the arm of help away,
And, faint in breath, grew wayward in her speech.
And mocked with smiles the mournful looks of each;
Wildly she thrust the arm of help away,
And, faint in breath, grew wayward in her speech.
The mother could not weep and durst not pray,
Knowing what grief can happen here below;
She calmed herself in spasms, envying most
The dead, the childless, all who shun such woe.
Knowing what grief can happen here below;
She calmed herself in spasms, envying most
The dead, the childless, all who shun such woe.
And, circling still, the Terrible drew near,
In swift approaches, certain of his aim,
While we, who would have died to come between,
Could only look, as on a desperate game.
In swift approaches, certain of his aim,
While we, who would have died to come between,
Could only look, as on a desperate game.
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And narrower grew the margin of our hope,
The victim struggling in half-conscious pangs;
Till, when the wild wolf's midnight hour had come,
At the fair throat he struck, with deadly fangs.
The victim struggling in half-conscious pangs;
Till, when the wild wolf's midnight hour had come,
At the fair throat he struck, with deadly fangs.
But then, the radiant shepherd intervened,
With arms divine, to ward the savage blow;
He raised our darling from her death-like swound,
And, with one gesture, sped th' insatiate foe.
With arms divine, to ward the savage blow;
He raised our darling from her death-like swound,
And, with one gesture, sped th' insatiate foe.
Thus, the dark terror passed at break of day,
And on the mother's heart came sudden change;
She had been fain to measure with a look
That gulf of anguish—now, delight seemed strange.
And on the mother's heart came sudden change;
She had been fain to measure with a look
That gulf of anguish—now, delight seemed strange.
But since that blest deliverance, in her child,
Another's treasure lent, she seems to hold;
The shepherd's touch has left the shining sign
That marks the sinless, numbered in his fold.
Another's treasure lent, she seems to hold;
The shepherd's touch has left the shining sign
That marks the sinless, numbered in his fold.
Anon with trembling joy the mother pleads
For her sweet idol 'gainst the claim divine;
Then, vanquished, lays her anxious weapon down,
Saying only, “Take me too, if she be thine.”
For her sweet idol 'gainst the claim divine;
Then, vanquished, lays her anxious weapon down,
Saying only, “Take me too, if she be thine.”
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