I am not a poet. Yet, the Lord gave this poem straight from the heart as I originally wrote The Lowly Yoke post back in 2008. At the time, it had been ten years since I had written a poem.
The illustration below is from an old book my grandmother gave me and was also a part of my inspiration.
Can you guess who Mary represents? the lambs? Faithful Hound? Lazy Lad? There is so much symbolism in this work. Read it through slowly several times, then write in the comments section what you get from it.
Keeping Lambs At Home
Mary kept her precious lambs,
along with Faithful Hound.
She led them forth and brought them back
securely safe and sound.
But then one night a Lazy Lad
awoke her from her sleep,
“You're needed near, you're needed far
to seek your neighbor’s sheep!”
Consid'ring not her own dear lambs
could then meet with great harm,
in haste she ran with staff in hand
to heed the boy’s alarm.
She sought no guide to lead the way;
her steps no one did bar.
She sought them high, she sought them low,
and found sheep near and far.
But as the sun was setting low,
her mind toward home did turn.
She thought about her little lambs,
and how her heart did yearn.
Yet as she stepped into the yard,
her tender heart was shattered.
She’d left the gate wide open flung
and now her flock was scattered.
She sought in vain the Lad for aid,
then in despair did weep.
Yet Faithful Hound to her did bound;
He’d help her find the sheep!
Soon one by one she brought her lambs
all safely to the fold.
Then treasured each with tend'rest care
as if they were pure gold.
While seeking others’ sheep abroad,
though praises did abound,
she learned it best to keep her lambs
at home with Faithful Hound.
Copyright 2008 Marcia Wilwerding
This poem was first published on the eHomebody blog on Feb. 4, 2008, under the title Keeping Lambs at Home. There are two comments under that original post with answers to some of the symbolism.
Monday, March 18, 2013
A Poem Symbolizing the Dangers of Feminism
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This is very good! I'm going to guess at the symbolism, but I think there could be more, so correct me if I'm wrong. Mary, I think, would be Christian sahm's... Faithful Hound, Christ? And then Lazy Lad... would it be either Pastors/leaders who are encouraging sahm's to go win the "lost" children of the world, or the actual mothers of the world who have lost their children?
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed it very much!!
Very good, Christie! Wow, either I effectively got the symbolism across or you are just very good at this!
ReplyDeleteThe Lazy Lads are the church leadership around the turn of the 20th Century who not only allowed women to take over the benevolent societies, not only encouraged them, but actively recruited them to leave their homes to work in restoring the community "family." They little realized that in so doing they instilled a sense of accomplishment outside the home which, unfortunately, was the seed planted which grew into the modern feminist movement.
I'm so glad you enjoyed it.