A Prayer Poem by Jonathan Howard

O, Father, Lord, our God and King,
To Thee alone we pray and sing,
We sense our essence most suppressed,
Nor shall we speak of utmost stress!

Surely Thou hast borne our sins?
And so, to Thee we pray our hymns!
God, in Thee alone we seem
To trust, shalt Thou our sins redeem?

We yearn for care, oh Lord of Men
And Saviour of Cub and Wren;
We kneel here and we confess,
O, Father, make us not regress.

A privilege we now foresee,
The sole honour of serving Thee:
We shall not now be led astray,
And to Thee we will mass and pray.

But in return to us, shalt Thou
Relieve our sins and pure us now?
We yearn to be most quickly clean,
O, Prythee! Life shall be serene.

And shalt Thou now [with all respect
That’s due] just think with retrospect
Of us? And since in old shrines’ stalls
We ask of Thee most kindly to us all –

To give redemption for Thou know’st
Our sins; and as we pray with most
Belief, our love to Thee we do express;
And we shall not do any less

For our long lives – as long as we
Shall live serenely and to Thee
We pray – please set our souls now free
For bow we down upon our knee.

(September 2004.)