Best Undismayed Poems

Written: August 19, 2023
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In the world where shadows dwell,
A tale of woe I shall now tell
Of hearts that wept both night and day,
As hope seemed distant, fading away.

Tears would flow, as rivers, they'd cascade,
Yet, still, they wiped them away, undismayed.
With shields and spears, they stood...

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See
by Michael R. Burch

See how her hair has thinned: it doesn’t seem
like hair at all, but like the airy moult
of emus who outraced the wind and left
soft plumage in their wake. See how her eyes
are gentler now; see how each wrinkle laughs,
and deepens on itself,...

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These are my modern English translations of sonnets by the French poet Stephane Mallarme.

The Tomb of Edgar Poe
by Stéphane Mallarmé
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Transformed into himself by Death, at last,
the Bard unsheathed his Art’s recondite blade
to duel with dullards, blind & undismayed,
who’d never heard...

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Epitaph for a Palestinian Child
by Michael R. Burch

I lived as best I could, and then I died.
Be careful where you step: the grave is wide.



Autumn Conundrum
by Michael R. Burch

It's not that every leaf must finally fall,
it's just that we can never catch them all.



Laughter’s Cry
by...

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You Never Listened
by Michael R. Burch
 
You never listened,
though each night the rain
wove its patterns again
and trembled and glistened...
 
You were not watching,
though each night the stars
shone, brightening the tears
in her eyes palely fetching...
 
You paid love no notice,
though she lay in my arms
as the...

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I slide along the edge of the stream,
Crossing the narrow road leading to it,
Search in the depth of the fussed ocean,
To find the portion reserved for me.

I wander throughout the space,
Tracking the silvery, sparkled stars;
Conspicuously, I've been so exhausted,
My naive heart chose not to surrender!

I...

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Trees dance while autumn sweeps the day

until the music fades

but when boughs brood beneath the snow

to rest in winter's shade,

each naked limb sleeps undismayed




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For Andrea's Contest: Envelop Quintet...

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After all was said and done
Before I’d reached a clear conclusion 
Could It ever be the same
Down the years of trial and error
Estimation of the future
For the best determination
Going over and again
Heading nowhere so it seemed
I should know by now much better
Jeopardy is never distant
Killing...

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Sonnets XVII-XXIV

Discrimination
by Michael R. Burch

The meter I had sought to find, perplexed,
was ripped from books of "verse" that read like prose.
I found it in sheet music, in long rows
of hologramic CDs, in sad wrecks
of long-forgotten volumes undisturbed
half-centuries by archivists, unscanned.
I read their fading numbers, frowned,...

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This that addles the brain
is not of opium or some such stuff
It has a special recipe :
Stardust and cuckoo eggs
slowcooked in the bile that rose in Cain
flavored with Phoenician almonds
chilled in the eyes of  the subSaharan mom
holding close her starving child in vain

So that...

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We should all be most afraid
Since they’ve abolished Roe v. Wade
For legislators won’t be swayed
Despite the nation’s ire.

Women feel we’ve been betrayed
By those whose actions have displayed
A heartlessness that will pervade
With consequences dire.

If attention had been paid
Some reason might have helped persuade
The justices that they...

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'Twas slightly scary in terms doctors know
did nurses nimble who would pass this way.
Prickly plied do glories go
so soon alas undismayed.

Long time in fact she thought
jabbed her vaccsees as she fought.
Needling here high 'n low
ends to this virus she so sought.

Come flee false harms some...

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TAURUS
                                            ...

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I waited and I waited just in case she’d been delayed
I stood there feeling foolish, though I acted undismayed 
A movie and some popcorn might have won her pretty smile
And I was very keen and so I waited quite a while

Perhaps she didn’t like the...

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    MY BELOVED 

     Accomplished affirmative aggressive all along ambitious.
     Bright brilliant blooming bubbling.
     Courageous competent courteous classy
     Dedicated devoted dulcet dreamer drinking desires
  ...

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