The Good Shepherd

John 10.1-5, cast in the style of Anglo-Saxon poetry, with its characteric alliteration and assonance.

Truly I tell of the wayward one
Who enters in, but going not by gate
To seek the sheep, the feeding fold,
Closure climbing, barrier breaking,
Bent on banditry, a brigand bad.
The wise one comes and walks the way
Going in by the one goodly gate.
He the sure sheep keeper, trusted and true -
Welcoming him the door-ward opens wide.
The sheep are sure of him; they sense his song
And one by one he calls and claims them,
To each by name he speaks and names them,
Loving leads them, guiding out the gate.
Out in the open field, he wisely walks before them.
The flock comes following, for his voice they know.
From foreigners they fly, and fear to follow -
Fleeing far from those whose song is strange.