you have these moments i am held
dazed in your essence
when your concern catches me deep
a vividness my heart surrenders to
the slight reverse touch to your heart
apprehensions walk deep within
a countenance of a mein
a soft prayer in a breath
God stop this
the soft plea only a woman possesses
that carries the dire warning
there are the unforgiven
pariahs who never return
this is one jewel in a chest
i keep in my heart from other moments
such as you looking up
lost in your garden, hands in dirt
upon knees, wiping a moist brow
asking, would you get me some iced tea
alas, the fate of a man who only drinks coffee
a man whose only wish when crossing the veil
accompanied by a chest of jewels
Oregon 9/26/26
This year was the year of Poetry.
I wrote 156 poems this year on poetry soup.
156 poems this year to remind people to Trust in Jesus.
God is with us and we are going home soon.
Faith in Jesus grows with each poem.
Lord Jesus stay with us always.
Thank you Jesus for all you have done with me this year of Poetry.
I will see you in the clouds family.
Praise Lord Jesus forever for he is worthy of all Glory and Honors.
there's a gentleness in the trade winds
dancing in the palm fronds
just beyond my balcony
where lie the rolling waves
kneading the shore
pelicans gliding those crests aloft
as the magnificent frigates glide above
rare occasions the dolphins debut
racing always southward
past the river and into the bay
thrilling the surfers on the long wave
to have such ocean brethren at play
and the later delights from this view
the setting sun in a disappearing glow
watching continually for that moment
the last gasp of the green flash
but by far my favorite, the descending moon
submerging into a silver highway
a path that beckons me to the other side
where you watch it rise
and as i watch it go
i find happiness in knowing
the joy it brings to one i loved
and still do
the absent one from this balcony
Oregon 9/25/26
Jesus is the holy one.
In his name the demons Run.
In his name we are saved by no other name is there salvation.
Praise Jesus for all the dark days.
Praise Jesus for every tear shed because he is Great.
Save us Oh Lord from our sinful ways.
This body of mine is unclean but I pray, may your blood wash me white as snow.
Thank you Jesus for visions of great things and times you stayed with me.
I remember walking the streets on my death march hoping for an end.
You were there Lord I felt your breath on my back pushing me forward knowing You are God with me.
Praise Jesus for trusting me with his words.
Mercy to me Jesus I beg keep me from my evil ways and darkness.
Change my body into one worthy of being in your presence Lord Jesus have mercy on me an Evil one.
Praise You Jesus for everything you have done in my life.
You have given me so much mercy help us all, Help Glenda my new friend stay with her tonight and protect her.
Lord Have mercy on us all protect us all from ourselves
Lord I praise you for teaching me to be better today.
Lord please keep us all safe from evil and temptation and let us know your grace love peace and mercy.
I call upon the Father
I just spoke meaningful words
Voiced communications in joy,
So pleasant, harmonious, Ahh! sweet sounds
Unfolds joyously verses words
Sweet nectar verbs as I thank God
Haven
If for heaven, is mine haven
Then I’m in a safe place
My refuged asylum mine present space
I awaken spiritually protected
Encamped by angels strong
My condition good, my love is God
~
My shelter in the storms
Helter-skelter, drops anchor
Midst life’s canker-worms
I am in a place of safety
Protected and loved resurrected
In my retreat secured safely
Haven
Is he a MOUNTAIN like Whitney or Everest, rising strong and tall,
high above the landscape, watching and warning of dangers?
I think yes.
Is he an OCEAN like Atlantic, Indian, or Pacific, whose waves
keep coming to the shores ever so consistently and receding,
only to return again?
I think yes.
I also think that he is like a FAITHFUL RIVER, flowing with force
and favor with life and energy for all of us.
I also see him like a DAM who refuses to break: and he's so
well constructed to release faith, hope, and love to all those
down stream.
He's like a WALL of DEFENSE, shielding and protecting from
any and all enemies.
He's a WARRIOR, pulling down strongholds with the prayer
weapons of his warfare.
He's a LANDMARK, displaying the value of things
unchangeable and unmovable.
And last but not last, he's a GENTLE STREAM, flowing
with waters so divinely pure and crystal clear.
My haven is a place that might shock most people, my haven is the local cemetery.
In my haven I sit thinking of all of my ancestors in this hallowed ground, it just feels so peaceful under this low branched tree,
I can sit for hours, thoughtful and still, no noise just silence, sometimes broken with the sound of a breeze rustling my tree.
This is my place that nobody knows, my secret, my serenity my HAVEN>
I’m a Deadhead
Despite so many years of misgivings
So many hours wandering
Wondering what the hell am I doing
Listening yet again
Despite so many decades now drug free
Again and again back I come
Drawn in by some quality
Which only today
Fifty years on in my headstrongness
I can finally see
What pulls us in and binds us down
Is not so much the driving laid-back grooves
Or open-ended looping leads
And uncanny jams willing to bravely go
Where no band had ever gone before
As simply Garcia’s tone and phrasing
Both with his guitar strings and vocal chords
A lilting, yearning, aspiring, soulful sound
Striving to reach what is inherently beyond reach
Beyond grasp, but clearly there
Right there before us in the dark
Shining, shimmering, waiting, welcoming
An inevitable reunion
With an ineffable ground
(9/23/26)
You be my sunshine, and I'll be your blue, together by choice, not held by glue.
Sunshine brings shadow, and shadow brings blue,
yet neither is hated; both are true.
Yellow and blue, when we collide,
we don't vanish, we don't hide.
We make green, of leaf and life,
like finger paints at the age of five.
So let me be the shadow
that knows you, yet completes you.
Should time ever fail, its hands struck still,
If you thought of our life would you find peace at heart?
Would you wish for more years, would you see through blurred tears, the beauty of the road
We ne’er wished to depart?
Not always we felt the rays of the sun, but without the hard days, the joy wouldn't shine as it ought to have done.
Indeed joy is simply no task, when the small moments bring new ways to treasure you more than the last.
So check your clock, look upon its ivory face, and see that our seconds were never a waste
For should time ever fail, the sands run dry in their glass, know that even all time my love for you outlasts.
Ask me who I love and watch as I name and describe everyone I know, even a stranger to a stranger, just because I liked their smile or presence. But not even with those descriptions or names will I pause and say Mushtaq, a name that is mine from birth to death, from earth to heaven, from poem to poem, from lies to truth. Because within the depth of my heart and soul, I am afraid, for if I were to pause and say my name, I would forget the names of those who were once my friends, the ones whose presence I appreciated but never talked to. I know the pain of being forgotten. So, for that reason, I will not pause, but within every description or name, I will quietly mumble, “Mushtaq.”
sometimes it weighs me down
as if existence wishes me spent
useless and no longer essential
you walk through the door
and i have every reason
why my existence is animated
those dark eyes that hold another universe
who invite in every constellation i am
every time i think of you
i am atlas shrugged
in your given hand, the strength
a magnetism strengthening my iron core
a calm hysteria enveloped in a devoted plasma
where doves flock with eagles
the skies above Eden alive again
an existence beyond ever denying
love has humbled me
the knight upon one knee
the deepest of respect, loyalty
where my lips never consume enough
of the anatomy you are
where water spouts appear
fated to perish in the calm seas
of those dark eyes you wear
the other universe where i found
the heaven you are
Oregon 9/21/26
I wish to thank fellow poet Nine Dragons whose poem My Faerie Queen, Pt1 inspired the lines on the kneeling knight.
The brightest flame is most doomed.
It arrives like clean gravity, sudden.
A flare in the hollow chest,
clockwork chewing the wick of hours.
It makes ruin look like scripture.
It gilds dust, names it heaven.
It teaches the dark to blink,
then laughs porcelain teeth, shattered.
We gather, rugged witnesses, alone,
palms open under ember rain.
We swear it will not vanish.
We speak vows into static walls.
But fire is a feral engine.
It eats its own oxygen, tenderly.
Marvel bleeds; the self is prison.
Release comes bright, then brutal.
O brief seraph of heat,
you governed our pulse with light.
You made the void feel mortal.
You made our names ring, once.
Now ash repeats your outline.
Stillness spins, merciless, patient.
Nothing stops. Nothing starts.
Only a glow, remembering collapse.
Let this elegy hold your flare:
a scream folded inside brightness.
Trust grew fanged, loyalty grew wings.
Then soot, soft mercy closed your mouth.
The sun casts red upon the myriad dead,
The heavens die, departing shadowed shades;
The bloody duty’s done, but what ahead?
For prosp'rous peace rests not on sharpened blades.
And "Cincinnatus!", some now cry, "Be king!
To lead in peace, as you have led in war!"
But this a thing no friend of Rome should bring,
For army rule is not what Rome is for.
O, well enough, I know how well to lead,
But in my shadow, how could roses grow?
My absence is the thing that Romans need,
For in the sun, shall Rome itself best know.
Let others sharpen wits, for good or harm,
I'll sharpen plows, upon my humble farm.
Devotion Categories
Definition | What is Devotion in Poetry?
Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.
Related Poetry Forms
adoration, deference, love, fervor, piety, zeal, allegiance, adherence, intensity, fealty, passion, sincerity, reverence, enthusiasm, dedication, faithfulness, fidelity, worship, affection, attachment, devoutness, constancy, observance, service, earnestness, ardor, sanctity, consecration, fondness, spirituality, devotedness, devotement,