Sonnet 329

I used to pray the world forswear all wars

And for each man to love his fellow man,

That fearsome swords be hammered to plough shares

And warrior oaths engage pastoral plans;

That those now held unjustly be set free,

That pestilence not stalk the earth again,

Cruel hunger starve to distant memory

While every storehouse bulge surfeit with grain;

These pleas of others I did serve to heaven,

Imploring prayers directed by a spire

While falling tears perhaps more truth did leaven;

My heart and soul still did to hope aspire.

Beseeching ashes, nothing left to say

As god stands witness, yes… I used to pray.

Loubert S Suddaby poems