Best Middle English Poems

Instruction
by Michael R. Burch

Toss this poem aside
to the filigreed and the wild tide
of sunset.

Strike my name,
and still it is all the same.
The onset

of night is...

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She That Rivaled The Glowing Moon

Thy *hyacinth* hair upon white shoulders laid bare
thy face, mirror of love in heavenly skies.
The miracle of thy body, so...

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Ich have y-don al myn youth
“I have done it all my youth”
(anonymous Middle English poem)
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

I have done it all my...

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Spring
by Charles d'Orleans (c.1394-1465)
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Young lovers,
greeting the spring
fling themselves downhill,
making cobblestones ring
with their wild leaps and arcs,
like ecstatic sparks
struck from coal.

What...

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I Am /A   Dandelion

I stem out to a beautiful flower dressed in yellow, 
with a milky latex that runs in my veins.
Omitting a...

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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...

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Charles d'Orleans: a Medieval Marvel


Spring
by Charles d’Orleans (c. 1394-1465)
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Young lovers,
greeting the spring
fling themselves downhill,
making cobblestones ring
with their wild leaps and...

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Winter Awakens My Care
anonymous Middle English poem, circa 1300
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Winter awakens all my care
as leafless trees grow bare.
For now my sighs...

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Poems about the Coronavirus II


This World's Joy
(anonymous Middle English lyric, circa early 14th century AD)
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Winter awakens all my care
as leafless...

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Ech day me cometh tydinges thre
"Each Day Three Tidings Come to Me"
(anonymous Middle English poem, circa the 13th century AD)
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Each...

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Deep In The Mountain Tarns

Deep in the mountains,  
  Beyond a lost road,
Mystical spirits
Have their wild abode.

Lonely abysses
Of primeval dread,
Forests were freely 
the...

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I was out of control, spinning 
on the whirligig of youth, 
giddy to be caught 
in what Kerouac called 
"the whole mad swirl
of everything to...

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Aching Nights And Hopelessly Sad Morn

Aching nights and hopelessly sad morn
my life torn, ripped and nailed;
each day dark hours sliced and dice,
misery applauding as I...

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Oft in My Thought
by Charles D'Orleans
translation by Michael R. Burch

So often in my busy mind I sought,
Around the advent of the fledgling year,
For something pretty...

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Mountains feel its cascade.
Yesterdays remember its destruction.
 
Blossoms drink its delightfulness.
Estuaries enliven effervescently.
Sunshine shimmers during sprinkles.
The freedom of rain exhilarates.

Rainwater refreshes.
Acclimates the atmosphere.
Invigorates the soul.
Nurtures...

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