"Ayat" by MJ Gomez from SHŌ POETRY JOURNAL

Today's poem is by MJ Gomez

Ayat

It is obvious when it shouldn't be—
I have devastated myself for you.
There is so much of you I call out by name.
Left Hand, Right Hand, Kursi, Face—
So much of the impossible ends with dawn,
but O, how I still write to console my shadow.
Once, I managed to bend scripture
to something that flickered, then faded.
How foolish—
To think of devotion as something finite.
When I loved, I loved.
Even with no evidence of witness
but the trembling.
Even when Zachariah's sign of miracle
was silence.
O silent one, must all that is good remain unheard?
When you gave, you gave
until my hands were empty again.
At sundown, I grind a date pit
between my molars. each grain
swallowed into a moonlit self.
Still now all sweetness likens itself to desire—
Alif, Lam, Mim . . .
I rush through dawn prayer.
. . . Kaf, Ha, Ya, Ayn, Sad . . .
How wonderful and terrible it is
to be an animal out of hiding.

Copyright © 2025 MJ Gomez All rights reserved
from Shō Poetry Journal
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission

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