McGuffey's & KISS KISS Grammar Main Course Page
McGuffey's Second Reader

Lesson XIII.

IF I WERE A SUNBEAM

1.
"If I were a sunbeam,
     I know what I'd do;
I would seek white lilies,
     Roaming woodlands through.
I would steal among them,
     Softest light I'd shed,
Until every lily
     Raised its drooping head.
2.
"If I were a sunbeam,
     I know where I'd go;
Into lowly hovels,
     Dark with want and woe:
Till sad hearts looked upward,
     I would shine and shine;
Then they'd think of heaven,
    Their sweet home and mine."
3.
Are you not a sunbeam,
     Child, whose life is glad
With an inner brightness
     Sunshine never had?
Oh, as God has blessed you,
     Scatter light divine!
For there is no sunbeam
     But must die or shine.