Sonnet 462

Though flame may yet destroy these lines I write,

Please read them that you know my love is true —

Then torch them if you still mistrust me quite

And I shall so with honor, bid adieu.

You are misled, the words you hear are lies;

I have not once betrayed you, this I swear.

I have not lain betwixt another’s thighs

Nor kissed of lips, nor stroked another’s hair.

You are my life as ever, this and more

And I would die with sureness for your cause;

I live in hope eternity we share,

To join as one beneath the eyes of God.

Yet if you read and still my love you spurn;

Know it is truth, not paper that you burn.

Loubert S Suddaby poems