Devondra
Banks
Author & Poet
Bio
Devondra Banks, a native Houstonian, is a published and award-winning author, poet, and
owner of Music On Wheels Music Lessons. She has written and published eight children's books
and two collections of poetry. Her inspirations for her poetry are birthed from love, faith, and
life's experiences. Many of her poems have been used in various choral compositions and
performed throughout the world. Her most recent collaborations have been performed
by the Texas All-State Choir, several collegiate choirs, and Cantus.
Banks is a former elementary choir and musical theater teacher of 15 years and a member of
Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity and Texas Music Educators Association. She
currently resides in Houston, TX with her husband and three beautiful children.
Tears of Joy
I am full of tears!
Tears of joy that seem to well
And flow upon the thought
That I carry the promise of beauty for ashes and life anew.
A plan so delicate that no gentle hand of ours could place it all in place with grace to cause it not to break.
Birthed from faith and made with love, it grows.
Hope nurtures it, and peace sustains the dwelling place as the hymn does the soul that sings of thee.
These tears which once fell for loss,
Now build a grateful river which runs through forests of prayer and possibility.
They flow, but joy never leaves.
-Devondra F. Banks
Alleluia
Bleak and cold was the night that chilled,
ignited and warm were the souls filled
with expectancy for the Love to come,
Love to which hearts succumb.
Fragile shoulders will burdens bear,
small hands hold the world’s despair,
tiny feet will print our journey’s way,
Alleluia for this day!
​
– Devondra F. Banks