Sanctus

I doubt your existence
not your suffering

In your tall houses I have seen you
the site of execution

your electric throne

and lofty stone arches exquisitely formed
echoing your screams

Walking this morning barefoot in the garden
I watched your handiwork

a green bottle fly

resting its metallic halo
on a leaf of my beloved apple tree

And the petunias sang to me in white and crimson
little national flags

marching to your tender commands

Only when my back was turned
the neighbor’s cat 

ripped open a young starling
with a damaged wing

according to your nature

Jon Ward has maintained a poetry practice since he studied literature at Cambridge university in the 1960s but has only recently sought to publish his work. He authored a high school textbook Write Better English, published by Cambridge University Press, and a children’s picture book, Big Baby. More recently he edited MC24: Bruce Mau’s 24 Principles for Designing Massive Change in Your Life and Work. A marketing consultant and entrepreneur, Jon is the creator of Braincat, a software tool to facilitate clearer thinking. Poetry credits so far include a Laureate’s Choice prize in the 2017 Maria W. Faust Sonnet Contest.

[image: common green bottle fly on a leaf under the sunlight | wirestock]