StoryTitle("caps", "The Little Gray Lamb") ?>
StoryOrigin("center", SmallCapsText("Archibald Beresford Sullivan") ) ?>
PoemStart() ?>
PagePoem(38, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Out on the endless purple hills, deep in the clasp of somber night,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The shepherds guarded their weary ones—guarded their flocks of cloudy white,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "That like a snowdrift in silence lay,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Save one little lamb with its fleece of gray.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Out on the hillside all alone, gazing afar with sleepless eyes,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The little gray lamb prayed soft and low, its weary face to the starry skies:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2DQ", "", "\"O moon of the heavens so fair, so bright,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Give me—oh, give me—a fleece of white!\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "No answer came from the dome of blue, nor comfort lurked in the cypress-trees;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "But faint came a whisper borne along on the scented wings of the passing breeze:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2DQ", "", "\"Little gray lamb that prays this night,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "I cannot give thee a fleece of white.\"", "") ?>
PagePoem(39, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Then the little gray lamb of the sleepless eyes prayed to the clouds for a coat of snow,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Asked of the roses, besought the woods; but each gave answer sad and low:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2DQ", "", " \"Little gray lamb that prays this night,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", " We cannot give thee a fleece of white.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Like a gem unlocked from a casket dark, like an ocean pearl from its bed of blue,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Came, softly stealing the clouds between, a wonderful star which brighter grew", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", " Until it flamed like the sun by day", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", " Over the place where Jesus lay.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Ere hushed were the angels' notes of praise the joyful shepherds had quickly sped", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Past rock and shadow, adown the hill, to kneel at the Saviour's lowly bed;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", " While, like the spirits of phantom night,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", " Followed their flocks—their flocks of white.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And patiently, longingly, out of the night, apart from the others,—far apart,—", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Came limping and sorrowful, all alone, the little gray lamb of the weary heart,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", " Murmuring, \"I must bide far away:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", " I am not worthy—my fleece is gray.\"", "") ?>
PagePoem(40, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLineLong("L0", "", "And the Christ Child looked upon humbled pride, at kings bent low on the earthen floor,", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "") ?>
PoemLineLong("L0", "", "But gazed beyond at the saddened heart of the little gray lamb at the open door;", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "") ?>
PoemLineLong("L0", "", "And he called it up to his manger low and laid his hand on its wrinkled face,", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "") ?>
PoemLineLong("L0", "", "While the kings drew golden robes aside to give to the weary one a place.", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "") ?>
PoemLineLong("L2", "", " And the fleece of the little gray lamb was blest:", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "") ?>
PoemLineLong("L2", "", " For, lo! it was whiter than all the rest!", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "") ?>
Separator(90, 5, "*") ?>
PoemLineLong("L0", "", "In many cathedrals grand and dim, whose windows glimmer with pane and lens,", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "") ?>
PoemLineLong("L0", "", "Mid the odor of incense raised in prayer, hallowed about with last amens,", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "") ?>
PoemLineLong("L0", "", "The infant Saviour is pictured fair, with kneeling Magi wise and old,", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "") ?>
PoemLineLong("L0", "", "But his baby-hand rests—not on the gifts, the myrrh, the frankincense, the gold—", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "") ?>
PoemLineLong("L2", "", " But on the head, with a heavenly light,", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "") ?>
PoemLineLong("L2", "", " Of the little gray lamb that was changed to white.", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "") ?>
PoemEnd() ?>