This poem that I wrote today is a prayer, that God will save this city of Sydney that I live in.  It is written in iambic tetrameter (where every line has 8 beats) and is in the form of a garland cinquain.  It is a serious and a somber poem but it comes out of a heartfelt desire for people in this sprawling metropolis of Sydney to be saved.  God bless, Nahum.

Save This City, Sydney

God, save this city from Your wrath

From scorching death on Judgement Day;

Come send Your Spirit now with speed,

The Lord to meet its precious need

That all may seek The Only Way.

*

God, save this place that apes like Lot’s:

His burned to ash and sandy grey

Despite his desperate calls and pleas.

Come bless this Sydney, save it please

And do not turn Your ears away.

*

God, save this city; spurn me not

But save Your chosen, this I pray

That they behold the bleeding tree

Where Jesus died at Calvary.

May they repent without delay.

*

God, save this city; put a stop

To all the games these people play.

Unplug their ears, Your voice to heed

Instead of cold, indifferent, greed.

I beg you now and do inveigh.

*

God save this city lined with yachts,

Your grace and mercy to invade.

Bring down its pride and worldly glee

That in the ashes they shall see

The Lamb who was for sinners slayed.

*

God, save this city from Your wrath

And do not turn Your ears away.

Unplug their ears, Your voice to heed;

Bring down its pride and worldly glee.

May they repent without delay.

*

© All rights reserved.  Nahum H. Sennitt 2024.

Today I wrote a poem about Sydney city in the form of a garland cinquain.  In this form of poetic meter, each stanza has 5 lines with a rhyming scheme of a-b-c-c-b.  It has, on the whole, has 6 stanzas; the first 5 are original, but the last stanza is made up from one line of each of the preceding stanzas.  Enjoy.

Sydney City

The bobbling ferries, flanked by billowed sails

Of racing boats where crews on gunnels sit,

Move on the highway fuelled by writhing blue.

On Sydney’s quays the sun on glistening hues

Paint landscapes where the seagulls squawk and flit.

*

Botanic Gardens hide behind a veil

Of steel goliaths tall and brightly lit;

Rest in the shade that decades tilled and grew

When scalding sun is passing slowly through,

Your strength to find before you think to quit.

*

The Harbour Bridge is bedded down with nails

And watches far beneath the crawling ships;

Beside the House of Opera and its flue,

Where currents push the waters tried and true,

The crowds relax on coves to sup and sip.

*

Nearby The Rocks are long and winding trails:

Barangaroo is one such scenic trip,

A place which until now was made anew,

A stretch which ancient boughs and sandstone grew.

Around the corner from its bending lip

*

The curve of Darling Harbour never fails

With endless bars and restaurants on its strip,

That length of constant music, noise, and groove

Where life does bustle, always on the move.

Enjoy this city; take it in your grip.

*

The Harbour Bridge is bedded down with nails;

Enjoy this city; take it in your grip,

A place which until now was made anew.

Move on the highway fuelled by writhing blue

Near steel goliaths tall and brightly lit.

*

© All rights reserved.  Nahum H. Sennitt 2024 .