Best Burch Poems

Jump Start  (( collaboration *  SUSAN BURCH ))


by~ Poet D:

How did it come to this?
You and me down memory bliss..

Some where in between losing my self ..
I misplaced the dust remover off my shelf..

Now I will march on like a cheerful parade..
Smiling my...

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I'll bring a tear to every eye,
and I can make a grown man cry.
To grip you is my specialty,
for once you are caught up in me,
strong feelings will intensify.
 
I'll make you ponder things like why
a nice guy has to cheat or lie.
I mirror sad...

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She donned a pair of Tory Burch with a feigned smile.
She dressed the part, trying to show a bit of style.
But there was no sunshine on this cloudy day.
The weather suggested she had no need for shades, but she wore them anyway 

She wore them...

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Ali’s Song
by Michael R. Burch

They say that gold don’t tarnish. It ain’t so.
They say it has a wild, unearthly glow.
A man can be more beautiful, more wild.
I flung their medal to the river, child.
I flung their medal to the river, child.

They hung their coin around...

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The Fisher
by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
translation by Michael R. Burch

The river swirled and rippled;
nearby an angler lay,
and watched his lure with a careless eye,
like any other day.
But as he watched in a strange half-dream,
he saw the waters part,
and from the river’s depths emerged
a maiden, or...

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Gefunden (“Found”)
by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Into the woodlands,
alone, I went.
Seeking nothing,
my sole intent.

But I saw a flower
deep in the shade
gleaming like starlight
in a still glade.

I reached down to pluck it
when it shyly asked:
“Why would you snap me
so cruelly in half?”

So...

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“To the Moon”
by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Scattered, pole to starry pole,
glide Cynthia's mild beams,
whispering to the receptive soul
whatever moonbeams mean.

Bathing valley, hill and dale
with her softening light,
loosening from earth’s frigid chains
my restless heart tonight!

Over the landscape, near and far,
broods darkly glowering...

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“Stafell Gynddylan” (“The Hall of Cynddylan”) belongs to the cycle of Welsh englyn or englynion (three-line stanzas) traditionally called “Canu Heledd” (“The Song of Heledd”). 

The Welsh “dd” is pronounced “th.”
Cynddylan is pronounced KahN-THIHL-aeN.

Stafell Gynddylan (“The Hall of Cynddylan”)
Welsh englynion circa 1382-1410
translation/interpretation by Michael R....

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Ho Xuan Huong (1772-1882) was a risqué Vietnamese poetess. She has been called "the candid voice of a liberal female in a male-dominated society." 

The Unfortunate Plight of Women
by Ho Xuan Huong
translation by Michael R. Burch

Hey sisters, do you know?
The baby bawls at your breast
While...

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Love ever green
attributed to King Henry VIII
translation by Michael R. Burch

If Henry VIII wrote the poem, he didn’t quite live up to it! – MRB

Green groweth the holly,
so doth the ivy.
Though winter’s blasts blow never so high,
green groweth the holly.

As the holly groweth green
and never...

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Mirror
by Kajal Ahmad, a Kurdish poet
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

My era's obscuring mirror
shattered
because it magnified the small
and made the great seem insignificant.
Dictators and monsters filled its contours.
Now when I breathe
its jagged shards pierce my heart
and instead of sweat
I exude glass.



The Lonely Earth
by Kajal Ahmad
loose...

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PAUL VALERY TRANSLATION: “SECRET ODE”

“Secret Ode” is a poem by the French poet Paul Valéry about collapsing after a vigorous dance, watching the sun set, and seeing the immensity of the night sky as the stars begin to appear. 

Ode secrète (“Secret Ode”)
by Paul Valéry
loose...

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Letter to My Wife
by Miklos Radnoti
translated by Michael R. Burch

A poem written during the Holocaust in Lager Heidenau, in the mountains above Zagubica, August-September, 1944

Deep down in the darkness hell awaits--silent, mute.
Silence screams in my ears, so I shout,
but no one hears or answers, wherever...

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Our English Rose
by Michael R. Burch

for Christine Ena Burch

The rose is—
the ornament of the earth,
the glory of nature,
the archetype of the flowers,
the blush of the meadows,
a lightning flash of beauty.

This is my translation of ancient Greek epigram by Sappho of Lesbos. It was originally titled...

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My most popular poems on the Internet (I)

A number of my poems and translations have gone viral, according to Google, and some have been copied onto hundreds to thousands of web pages. That’s a lot of cutting and pasting! The results below are the results...

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