Probius (Nonce Sonnet) Poem by Gert Strydom

Probius was whipped by guards until bloody,
then chained and locked in the dungeon
to convince him, to offer to gods
and when they saw him shaking with sheer pain

his capturers thought it would make him broody
bring sense to him with a hard bludgeon,
then they were betting and drawing some odds
thinking that his faith in God was in vain,
that by this time he would be quite moody:

"I am better prepared than before
and you can send to me your whole army
but now I am only convinced more,
that nothing to your dead gods will force me
the devil, your true father, I deplore."