Epigrams Vi

Epigrams VI These are humorous epigrams including a form I call "Less Heroic Couplets." Less Heroic Couplets: Mini-Ode to Stamina by Michael R. Burch When you’ve given so much that I can’t bear your touch, then from a safe distance let me admire your persistence. Less Heroic Couplets: Less than Impressed by Michael R. Burch for T. M., regarding certain dispensers of lukewarm air Their volume's impressive, it's true... but somehow it all seems 'much ado.' Less Heroic Couplets: Crop Duster by Michael R. Burch We are dust and to dust we must return ... but why, then, life’s pointless sojourn? First Base Freeze by Michael R. Burch I find your love unappealing (no, make that appalling) because you prefer kissing then stalling. The Trouble with Elephants: a Word to the Wise by Michael R. Burch An elephant NEVER forgets, which is why they don’t make the best pets: Jumbo may well out-live you, but he’ll NEVER forgive you so you may as well save your regrets! The Beat Goes On (and On and On and On ...) by Michael R. Burch Bored stiff by his board-stiff attempts at “meter,” I crossly concluded I’d use each iamb in lieu of a lamb, bedtimes when I’m under-quaaluded. Cover Girl by Michael R. Burch Cunning at sunning and dunning, the stunning young woman’s in the running to be found exposed on the cover of some patronizing lover. The cover is a bed cover, where the enterprising lass is about to be covered herself. Paradoxical Ode to Antinatalism by Michael R. Burch A stay on love would end death’s hateful sway, someday. A stay on love would thus BE love, I say. Be true to love and thus end death’s fell sway! Native American Prayer loose translation by Michael R. Burch Help us learn the lessons you have left us here in every leaf and rock. Old age, believe me, is a blessing. While it’s true you get gently shouldered off the stage, you’re awarded such a comfortable front row seat as spectator. — Confucius, loose translation by Michael R. Burch "Lu Zhai" ("Deer Park") by Wang Wei (699-759) loose translation by Michael R. Burch Uninhabited hills ... except that now and again the silence is broken by something like the sound of distant voices as the sun's sinking rays illuminate lichens ... Keywords: epigram, epigrams, couplet, couplets, touch, touching, life, death, love, kiss, kissing, hot air, volume, animal, animals, pets, elephants, lamb, lambs, sleep, dream, counting sheep, birth, procreation, antinatalism