Yawcob Strauss and Other Poems/Misplaced Sympathy

by Charles Follen Adams

MISPLACED SYMPATHY.

Little Benny sat one evening,

Looking o'er his picture-book:

Suddenly his mother noticed

On his face a troubled look.

He was gazing on a picture, —

"Christians in the early days,"

When the cruel tyrant Nero

Harassed them in various ways.

'Twas a family of Christians,

Torn by lions fierce and wild,

In the horrible arena,

Which had thus distressed the child.

Thinking it a golden moment

To impress his youthful mind

With our freedom, dearly purchased,

And by martyrs' blood refined,

His good mother told the story

Of their persecutions sore,

While he listened, all attention,

And the picture pondered o'er.

"See, my child, those hungry lions,

How upon the group they fall!

'Tis a sight, my precious darling,

That the bravest might appall."

Then, with little lip a-quiver,

"Mamma, look!" says little Benny:

"Little lion in the corner,

Mamma, isn't gettin' any!"