Its fleece was white as snow;

And everywhere that Mary went

The lamb was sure to go.

It followed her to school one day,

That was against the rule;

It made the children laugh and play

To see a lamb at school.

And so the teacher turned it out,

But still it lingered near,

And waited patiently about

Till Mary did appear.

Why does the lamb love Mary so?

The eager children cry;

Why, Mary loves the lamb, you now,

The teacher did reply.

毛色潔白如霜雪；

無論瑪莉走到哪兒，

小羊一定跟到哪兒。

一天跟著瑪莉去上學，

違反學校的規定；

看到小羊來上學，

小朋友笑鬧成一團。

於是老師趕牠走，

但牠還是在徘徊，

耐心等著瑪莉來。

為什麼小羊愛瑪莉？

小朋友好奇想知道；

老師回答說：

因為瑪莉愛小羊！

年把她的體驗寫成詩作發表在兒童雜誌，被視為是這首童謠的雛形。當時是一聯

八行，共有三聯。同一年她又把這首詩收在詩集『為孩子們寫的詩』中。後來因

為被納入美國標準教科書中而普為流傳，但此時已改成一聯四行的形式。

    有人認為小羊是指基督，即神的小羊，而瑪莉則是聖母。若以這個角度來詮釋

這首童謠，頗讓人感受到傳統的莊嚴氣氛。

選自：英語名句賞析辭典/牛頓出版公司