A PLEA TO PEACE (Sonnet)
Ms. Dr. H. Tulsi
‘O Peace! For ages now, have we not invoked
Your grace by chanting your name ceaselessly?
We are sorely tired; our voices are all choked.
Must you still evade us so mercilessly?
What will you accept as our humble libation?
In vain we’ve tried to offer you, at various stages,
Of Courage, Faith and Hope a sweet distillation.
Our Labour, too, has failed to win you as its wages.
Ah! you’re too precious to be won so cheaply!
For you, much more costly things we need to barter.
We’ll need to place, one by one, successively,
The rarest things on earth at your holy altar–
These being Love, Content, Selflessness,
Sacrifice, Compassion and Generousness.