If the amateur wants to try quatrains, free verse, or haiku, fine. The kind of poetry I am suggesting, however, is between the poet and God, is possible for all of us, and is, as I said above, a simple saying that one thing is another thing. Eve must have cherished the words. Today's lovers cherish them too, when sincerely meant. The metaphor, the heart of the poem, is fresh and draws you closer to God if it is fresh to you.
Personal discovery is the important thing.
Jesus as shepherd is perhaps the most familiar of all Christian metaphors, except for the Cross. The image is still powerful even to those who live in great cities and whose view of sheep is a glimpse from a speeding car on a rural interstate highway. Outside of western movies or biblical TV epics, most of us have never seen a shepherd. But as lost sheep in Chicago or New York, we can feel what a shepherd does and long for one ourselves. Searching for metaphors, writing poetry for oneself as a gift to God and perhaps to other human beings, is a fine mode of worship.