Best Coat Of Mail Poems

A lowly blossom, striving to sustain 
her beauty in the early morning mist, 
the crocus, craving moisture to maintain 
her stoic fight 'gainst winter's iron fist. 
A lowly mollusc slithers 'neath his shell, 
he slowly weaves, and leaves a silver trail, 
antennae primed, and ready...

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A lowly blossom, striving to sustain 
her beauty in the early morning mist, 
the crocus, craving moisture to maintain 
her stoic fight 'gainst winter's iron fist. 
A lowly mollusc slithers 'neath his shell, 
he slowly weaves, and leaves a silver trail, 
antennae primed and ready...

Continue reading...

Rejection
a roundel by Geoffrey Chaucer
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Your beauty from your heart has so erased
Pity, that it's useless to complain;
For Pride now holds your mercy by a chain.

I'm guiltless, yet my sentence has been passed.
I tell you truly, needless now to feign:
Your beauty...

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Pellucid pearls in northeastern North America since planetary birth
Comprise Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario dearth
Largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth 
Straddle Canadian–United States border tethering partial global girth
Constituting 21% of world's surface fresh water species hearth
Total surface equals 94,250 square miles 
...

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Pellucid pearls in northeastern 
   North America since planetary birth
comprise Lakes Superior, Michigan, 
     Huron, Erie, and Ontario 
   (HOMES acronym) dearth
largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth 
straddle Canadian–United States 

   border tethering partial...

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Pellucid pearls in northeastern North America 
since planetary birth
Comprise Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, 
Erie, and Ontario dearth
Largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth 
Straddle Canadian–United States border 
tethering partial global girth
Constituting 21% of world's surface 
fresh water species hearth
Total surface equals 94,250 square miles 
And...

Continue reading...

A lowly blossom, striving to sustain 
her beauty in the early morning mist, 
the crocus, craving moisture to maintain 
her stoic fight 'gainst winter's iron fist. 
A lowly mollusc slithers 'neath his shell, 
he slowly weaves, and leaves a silver trail, 
antennae primed and ready...

Continue reading...

Medieval Poem V

A Proverb from Winfred's Time
anonymous Old English poem, circa 757-786
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

1.
The procrastinator puts off purpose,
never initiates anything marvelous,
never succeeds, and dies alone.

2.
The late-deed-doer delays glory-striving,
never indulges daring dreams,
never succeeds, and dies alone.

3.
Often the deed-dodger avoids ventures,
never succeeds, and dies...

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There’s beauty in His word though we don't see His shield.
Are we caught wand'ring round while others focus in?
Beauty is encountered each time His arm's revealed.

Think you need a coat of mail on your mission field?
Do you require a gauntlet, helmet past your chin?
There’s beauty...

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The Great Lakes acronym spells homes

I chose titled topic by a fanciful whim,
nevertheless still consider my knowledge 
of aforementioned material slim.

Housing multivarious biomes
register ecological syndromes
whereby constituents of NOAA 
Great Lakes Environmental 
Research Laboratory writ tomes.

Pellucid pearls in northeastern 
North America since planetary birth
Comprise Lakes Superior,...

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Translations of the Oldest English Rhyming Poems

The Rhymed Poem aka The Rhyming Poem aka The Riming Poem
Old English/Anglo-Saxon poem from the Exeter Book, circa 990 AD
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

(excerpt)
He who granted me life created this sun
and graciously provided its radiant engine.
I was gladdened...

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A lowly blossom, striving to sustain 
her beauty in the early morning mist, 
the crocus, craving moisture to maintain 
her stoic fight 'gainst winter's iron fist. 
A lowly mollusc slithers 'neath his shell, 
he slowly weaves, and leaves a silver trail, 
antennae primed and ready...

Continue reading...

A lowly blossom, striving to sustain 
her beauty in the early morning mist,
the crocus, craving moisture to maintain
her stoic fight 'gainst winter's iron fist.
A lowly mollusc slithers 'neath his shell,
he slowly weaves, and leaves a silver trail,
antennae primed and ready for the knell,
when sparrows poke...

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O,  elvenstone! O, elvenstone!
O, would that you could be my own.
To quest exhausted, all these years,
And not obtain those pointy ears
To sharpen sense, to hear my phone.

O battle axe! O battle axe!
For thy pursuit, my patience lacks.
Through garbage bins in fishing wharves,
Midst arguments with...

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