Ere he found his sheep that was lost.
Out in the desert he heard its cry—
Sick and helpless, and ready to die.
"'Lord, whence are those blood-drops all the way
That mark out the mountain's track?'
They were shed for one who had gone astray,
Ere the shepherd could bring him back.
'Lord, why are Thy hands so rent and torn?'
They are pierced, to-night, by many a thorn.
"But all through the mountains, thunder-riven,