Swoon Song

Swoon Song by Michael R. Burch In this ordinary swoon as I pass from life to death, I feel no heat from the cold, pale moon; I feel no sympathy for breath. Who I am and why I came, I do not know; nor does it matter. The end of every man’s the same and every god’s as mad as a hatter. I do not fear the letting go; I only fear the clinging on to hope when there’s no hope, although I lift my face to the blazing sun and feel the greater intensity of the wilder inferno within me. NOTE: The poem's title "Swoon Song" is a pun on "swan song." Swan Song by Michael R. Burch The breast you seek reserves all its compassion for a child unborn. Soon meagerly she’ll ration soft kisses and caresses—not for Him, but you. Soon in the night, bright lights she’ll dim and croon a soothing love hymn (not for you) and vow to Him that she’ll always be true, and never falter in her love. But now she whispers falsehoods, meaning them, somehow, still unable to foresee the fateful Wall whose meaning’s clear: such words strange gods might scrawl revealing what must come, stark-chiseled there: Gaze on them, weep, ye mighty, and despair! There’ll be no Jericho, no trumpet blast imploding walls womb-strong; this song’s your last. Goddess by Michael R. Burch “What will you conceive in me?”— I asked her. But she only smiled. “Naked, I bore your child when the wolf wind howled, when the cold moon scowled ... naked, and gladly.” “What will become of me?”— I asked her, as she absently stroked my hand. Centuries later, I understand: she whispered—“I Am.” Published by Romantics Quarterly (the first poem in the first issue) Departed by Michael R. Burch Already, I miss you, though your parting kiss is still warm on my lips. Now the floor is not strewn with your stockings and slips and the dishes are all put away. You left me today... and each word left unspoken now whispers regrets. Her Preference by Michael R. Burch Not for her the pale incandescence of dreams, the warm glow of imagination, the hushed whispers of possibility, or frail, blossoming hope. No, she prefers the anguish and screams of bitter condemnation, the hissing of hostility, damnation's rope. Keywords/Tags: swoon, song, swan song, absence, anxiety, god, gods, damnation, condemnation, dreams, imagination, Dante, inferno, hell, heaven, salvation, redemption, hymn, hymns