Richard I’s Sonnet
Christ is my only
standard. As he drove
The money changers
from the temple who
Profaned it, I in
imitation strove
To save God's temples
from blasphemers, too.
If smaller groups of money
changers must
Be driven out, much more so should we drive
Out hordes of unbelievers. I was just
Therefore in how I chose to reign and live.
Although great men
have critics and I'm not
Immune, I'm confident
the worst they’ve said
Of me is I craved
men and therefore led
Men East. If true, such charge condemns me not.
In judging right and
wrong, Christ is the test.
I've read his
words. The topic's not addressed.
Saladin's Round
(By a Kurdish hero)
There is no God but
God and he is Lord
Of every atom of
creation. He
Is thus by his own
essence rightfully
The Lord of old
Jerusalem and all
Her Asian territories
rather than
Someone whose agent
sits in far-off Rome.
Someone whose agent
sits in far-off Rome
Abstractly drinking blood and eating flesh
With wine and broken
bread in temples there
Has brokered more
than mere abstractions here.
This broker's swords have broken men and spilled
Real blood and gore
throughout God’s Holy Land.
Real blood and gore
throughout God’s Holy Land
Required response and we have given aid.
We’ve had to use swords doing that though we
Preferred the use of
reason. Though we’ve won
Upon the field, our
greater victory comes
Through favoring
mercy over death instead.
Through favoring
mercy over death instead
Of other attitudes,
we’ve followed God
And done his
work. Though evil trembles at
Such simple logic,
we find rest in it--
God favors mercy and
believers know
There is no God but
God and he is Lord.
Charles Martel’s Sonnet
Though God is three
in one, it’s blasphemy
To tolerate an
earthly trinity
Of Christian, Jew,
and Muslim. There can be
Just one true faith
since Christianity
Alone is
scriptural. Of course God knew
Martel means
“hammer” and called me to do
The labor. Although just a bastard to
That beast Plectude,
great battle plans I drew
For plated men and
beasts. At Poitiers,
Design met
field. There my troops held at bay
The foreign hordes our armor drove away
From Christendom forever. Lord, I pray
For Heavenly
inclusion having fought
For God and
Christendom as scriptures taught.
© Harold Anthony Lloyd 2016
The current contents of "The Apology Box" can be found here.
