How long will you live by eating someone else’s leftovers?
Find your own way, don’t live on regurgitated words!
—Kabir Das, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch (keywords/tags: life, words, Hindi)
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When you were born, you wept while the world rejoiced.
Live your life so that when you die, the world weeps while you rejoice.
—Kabir Das, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch (keywords/tags: birth, death, world, laughter, rejoice, weep, weeping, cry, crying)
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Keep the slanderer near you, build him a hut near your house.
For, when you lack soap and water, he will scour you clean.
—Kabir Das, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch (keywords/tags: home, water, Hindi)
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Without looking into our hearts,
how can we find Paradise?
—Kabir Das, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch (keywords/tags: heart, hearts, paradise, sight, seeing, senses, vision)
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Certainly, saints, the world’s insane:
If I tell the truth they attack me,
if I lie they believe me.
—Kabir Das, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch (keywords/tags: truth, trust, lies, faith, belief, world)
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A poet births words,
brings them into the world like a midwife,
then wet-nurses them from infancy to adolescence.
— Michael R. Burch (keyword/tags: poet, poets, words, birth)
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Ko Un was speechless at Auschwitz. Someday, when it’s too late, will we be speechless at Gaza? —Michael R. Burch (Keywords/Tags: Holocaust, Auschwitz, Gaza, death, murder, ethnic cleansing, genocide, infanticide, matricide)
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Joe Montana was Joe Cool, but he was also Joe Clutch. — Michael R. Burch (Keywords/Tags: football, sports, Joe Montana, cool, clutch)
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Water reforms, although we slice it with our swords;
Sorrow returns, although we drown it with our wine.
('A Toast to Uncle Yun' by Li Bai, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch)
Keywords/Tags: water, wine, sorrow, swords, Li Bai, Uncle Yun
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The spring breeze knows partings are bitter;
The willow twig knows it will never be green again.
('Lines from Laolao Ting Pavilion' by Li Bai, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch)
Keywords/Tags: spring, green, part, parting, partings, tree, twig
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Cassidy Hutchinson is a modern Erin Brockovich except that in her case the well has been poisoned for the whole country. — Michael R. Burch
(Keywords/Tags: America, USA, patriotic, truth, justice, White House, Trump)
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Cassidy Hutchinson is not only credible, but her courage and poise under fire have been incredible. — Michael R. Burch
(Keywords/Tags: courage, truth, patriotic, credible, incredible, credibility, Trump)
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I have suffused myself in poetry
as a lizard basks, soaking up sun,
scales nakedly glinting; its glorious light
he understands—when it comes, it comes…
(Michael R. Burch, "Sun Poem," keywords/tags: sun, sunshine, summer, poetry)
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The reign
in a chauvinist’s brain
falls mainly as mansplain.
("Apologies to España" by Michael R. Burch, Keywords/Tags: men, women, Spain, Spanish)
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There is nothing at all supreme, nor anything remotely just, about Clarence Thomas.—Michael R. Burch (Keywords/Tags: justice, injustice, supreme court, corruption, America, judgement)
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Justice may be blind, but does she have to be deaf too?—Michael R. Burch (Keywords/Tags: silence, justice, injustice, integrity, truth)
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“Epigram”
means cram,
then scram!
("Brief Fling" by Michael R. Burch, Keywords/Tags: write, writing, words, word play)
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Wayne Gretzky was pure skill poured into skates.—Michael R. Burch
Keywords/Tags: sports, hockey, NHL, skill, talent, genius, miracle
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The nature of Nature
is bitter survival,
from Winter’s bleak fury
till Spring’s brief revival.
The weak implore Fate;
bold men ravish, dishevel her ...
till both are cut down
by mere ticks of the Leveler.
('The Leveler' by Michael R. Burch; keywords/tags: time, nature, winter)
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With every wearying year
the weight of the winter grows,
and while the schoolgirl outgrows
her clothes,
the widow disappears
in hers.
('The Shrinking Season' by Michael R. Burch; keywords/tags: winter, time, age, aging, loss)
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The troublemaker's way is thorny.
— Native American proverb, translation by Michael R. Burch, keywords/tags: Native American, translation, troublemaker, thorn, thorny, wisdom, way, path, journey
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Knowledge interprets the past, wisdom foresees the future. — Native American proverb, translation by Michael R. Burch, keywords/tags: Native American, translation, past, future, knowledge, wisdom, judgement
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We will be remembered tomorrow by the tracks we leave today. — Native American proverb, translation by Michael R. Burch, keywords/tags: Native American, future, memory
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One foot in the boat, one foot in the canoe, and you end up in the river.
— Native American proverb, translation by Michael R. Burch, keywords/tags: Native American, water, river, vacillation, fence-sitting
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Beware the eloquence of the rattlesnake's tail. — Native American saying, translation by Michael R. Burch, keywords/tags: Native American, nature, rattlesnake, eloquence, spoken word, speech
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The more we wonder, the more we understand.
— Native American proverb, translation by Michael R. Burch, keywords/tags: Native American, translation, nature, wisdom, understanding
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What is life?
The flash of a firefly.
The breath of a winter buffalo.
The shadow scooting across the grass that vanishes with sunset.
—Blackfoot saying, translation by Michael R. Burch, keywords/tags: Native American, translation, life, nature
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Before you judge
a man for his sins
be sure to trudge
many moons in his moccasins.
(Native American proverb, translation by Michael R. Burch, keywords/tags: judgement, anti-bullying, tolerance, understanding, sympathy, words of wisdom)
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White in the shadows
I see your face,
unbidden. Go, tell
Love it is commonplace;
tell Regret it is not so rare.
Our love is not here
though you smile,
full of sedulous grace.
Lost in darkness, I fear
the past is our resting place.
('Ghost' by Michael R. Burch, keywords/tags: ghost, shadows, regret, relationship, smile, grief, dark)
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Baseball's immeasurable spittin' mixed with occasional hittin'.—Michael R. Burch
Keywords/Tags: baseball, softball, America, sports, bat, batting, spit, spitting
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