The pieces nine, she craved the stray piece most.
He wandering o’er these hills of Galilee
Beheld a flock all shepherdless and free,
The shepherd searching one through brake and lea.
Faith loves the mystery which it cannot read,
How he a child once in a manger lay,
Yet prayed he thus: The glory which I had
With Thee ere time was now repeat in me.
The eastern wise men to his cradle came,
Yet said this child; “Ere Abraham was, I am;”