# If I Were a Sunbeam

- Source: McGuffey's Second Reader (second-reader.gutenberg.org), Public domain, William Holmes McGuffey, 1879, via Project Gutenberg
- Reading level: Grades 1 and 2
- Subjects: Poems
- Topics: sunbeam, shine, know, light, among, blessed
- Length: 113 words, about 1 min
- Original: <https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14668>
- Page: <https://sprout.rootsofreason.org/r/mcguffey-second/second-13-lesson-13>
- Open in Sprouts: <https://sprout.rootsofreason.org/?read=mcguffey-second/second-13-lesson-13>

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IF I WERE A SUNBEAM.

- "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.
- "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."
- 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.

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## Picture credits

- illustrator not named in this edition, Public domain (<https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14668>)
- illustrator not named in this edition, Public domain (<https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14668>)