Passion Funeral Poems

Villanelle: Remembering Not to Call
by Michael R. Burch

(a villanelle permitting mourning, for my mother, Christine Ena Burch)

The hardest thing of all,
after telling her everything,
is remembering...

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"Do not stand by my grave and weep", they said.
Here's something she would have said instead.
"Hey, smile, all of your smiles are beautiful."
Hers was more...

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Saying Goodbye

I am bad about saying goodbye. 
I hate doing it. 
I don't want to do that, 
at all, ever!
It makes my heart heavy, 
my...

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(after the novel)

I don’t care about fashion
I just try to keep warm
I’ve heard all about passion
Sounds like a great big storm
I stay out of the...

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 In the coffin lay your body silent and still
As with wax, sealed were your eyes
Bared of all passion, pain and strain
You were at rest,...

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Broken is the mechanical clock 
Broken is the bloody heart 
Broken is the memories of youth 
Broken is the will
Broken as the world turns and...

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Bring on the pain 
       for I have seen my ruin misspent ways.
Bring on the rain 
  ...

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Leather boots 
tight black suits 
skin hot bound 
in knots cutting 
sweet the heat 
Burns in between 
the pleasure 
of the pain 
the sweat 
of...

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The woman lying on the hospital bed
Silent, intuition discerning
The last breath, last sigh, goodbye
Whispered beneath a soft cry
From the soul who she was leaving behind

She...

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Lavender hues embrace my thoughts
Bathed in silence, dipped in love
Like a persuasive caress, urgent for
The breathless passion that entices
Burning away all the grief and despair

Through...

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Rancid lilies stream the rim
     of wicker baskets
     like wilted soldiers rank and file
Fatigued and sweaty
They salute...

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The door closed as they each took their turn.
Their turn to say goodbye.
Their turn to say prayers.
While he lay in the bed, near death.

She was...

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R.I.P.
by Michael R. Burch

When I am lain to rest
and my soul is no longer intact, 
but dissolving, like a sunset
diminishing to the west...

and when at...

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Why love and never love again
Tears reach down and drown out memory
My heart pulled down and out in tidal forces  
Raw feelings cause trembling...

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This is my sorrow, my voiceless sorrow.
A damnable mourning to my vulnerability.
A suffering of the heart, captive of thresholds the sins I watch.
Speak truth to...

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