Love Is Her Belief and Her Commandment

Love is her Belief and her Commandment by Michael R. Burch for Beth Love is her belief and her commandment; in restless dreams at night, she dreams of Love; and Love is her desire and her purpose; and everywhere she goes, she sings of Love. There is a tomb in Palestine: for others the chance to stake their claims (the Chosen Ones), but in her eyes, it’s Love’s most hallowed chancel where Love was resurrected, where one comes in wondering awe to dream of resurrection to blissful realms, where Love reigns over all with tenderness, with infinite affection. While some may mock her faith, still others wonder because they see the rare state of her soul, and there are rumors: when she prays the heavens illume more brightly, as if saints concur who keep a constant vigil over her. And once she prayed beside a dying woman: the heavens opened and the angels came in the form of long-departed friends and loved ones, to comfort and encourage. I believe not in her God, but always in her Love. The Descent into the Underworld by Virgil loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch The Sibyl began to speak: “God-blooded Trojan, son of Anchises, descending into the Underworld’s easy since Death’s dark door stands eternally unbarred. But to retrace one’s steps and return to the surface: that’s the conundrum, that’s the catch! Godsons have done it, the chosen few whom welcoming Jupiter favored and whose virtue merited heaven. However, even the Blessed find headway’s hard: immense woods barricade boggy bottomland where the Cocytus glides with its dark coils. But if you insist on ferrying the Styx twice and twice traversing Tartarus, if Love demands you indulge in such madness, listen closely to how you must proceed...” Dawn Flight by Michael R. Burch for Martin Mc Carthy What is it about love that defies explanation?— the weightlessness of being, the long elliptic climb into darkness amid the world’s constant uproar, the sea’s black waves crashing incessantly like thunder beneath us, the long triumphant soar into thinning contrails of nothingness, like meteors through ether, seeing the earth’s dark curve outlined, spinning softly beneath us... gliding, suspended at last, over the earth pliant and motionless... feeling, suddenly, the vast onrush and illumination. “Dawn Flight” was published by Poetry Porch as “The Bridge at Dawn.” Keyword/Tags: angel, faith, god, heaven, love, soulmate, visionary, belief, commandment, desire, purpose, flight