O, Father, Lord, our God and King, <br />To Thee alone we pray and sing, <br />We sense our essence most suppressed, <br />Nor shall we speak of utmost stress! <br /> <br />Surely Thou hast borne our sins? <br />And so, to Thee we pray our hymns! <br />God, in Thee alone we seem <br />To trust, shalt Thou our sins redeem? <br /> <br />We yearn for care, oh Lord of Men <br />And Saviour of Cub and Wren; <br />We kneel here and we confess, <br />O, Father, make us not regress. <br /> <br />A privilege we now foresee, <br />The sole honour of serving Thee: <br />We shall not now be led astray, <br />And to Thee we will mass and pray. <br /> <br />But in return to us, shalt Thou <br />Relieve our sins and pure us now? <br />We yearn to be most quickly clean, <br />O, Prythee! Life shall be serene. <br /> <br />And shalt Thou now [with all respect <br />That’s due] just think with retrospect <br />Of us? And since in old shrines’ stalls <br />We ask of Thee most kindly to us all – <br /> <br />To give redemption for Thou know’st <br />Our sins; and as we pray with most <br />Belief, our love to Thee we do express; <br />And we shall not do any less <br /> <br />For our long lives – as long as we <br />Shall live serenely and to Thee <br />We pray – please set our souls now free <br />For bow we down upon our knee. <br /> <br />(September 2004.)<br /><br />Jonathan Howard<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-prayer-12/
