Long A billion Poems

Dandelions…
They flutter, now I see
Fiery lions…
They're dancing with me
Sunlight…
Come out and shine down 
Moonlight…
Shun out my darkened frown

I am the infinitesimal stars in the tranquil, terrestrial night
I am the scars minutes before the sunlit dawn...

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Limericks III - Grab Bag

Being a peace activist, I once wrote a limerick in an attempt to stop needless wars:

Of Tetley’s and V-2's
(or "Why Not to Bomb the Brits")
by Michael R. Burch

The English are very...

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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.

This poem has also been titled "Epitaph for a Child of...

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Here and Hereafter
by Michael R. Burch

Life’s saving graces are love, pleasure, laughter ...
wisdom, it seems, is for the Hereafter.



Laughter’s Cry
by Michael R. Burch

Because life is a mystery, we laugh
and do not know the half.

Because death...

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Here We Shall Remain
by Tawfiq Zayyad
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Like twenty impossibilities
in Lydda, Ramla and Galilee ...
here we shall remain.

Like brick walls braced against your chests;
lodged in your throats
like shards of glass
or prickly cactus...

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First they came for the Muslims

after Martin Niemoller

First they came for the Muslims
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Muslim.

Then they came for the homosexuals
and I did not speak out
because I was...

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Poems about Fathers and Grandfathers IV



Neglect
by Michael R. Burch

What good are your tears?
They will not spare the dying their anguish.
What good is your concern
to a child sick of living, waiting to perish?

What good, the warm...

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Cleansings
by Michael R. Burch

Walk here among the walking specters. Learn
inhuman patience. Flesh can only cleave
to bone this tightly if their hearts believe
that God is good, and never mind the Urn.

A lentil and a bean might...

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Those who get,
get more widely.
Those who want,
want more deeply.

Normal slow-grown inter-religiously co-invested evolution 
is not survival of the wealthiest and strongest species,
but thrival of the deepest win/win fit 
with least panentheistic disruption required
within,
whether we speak...

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Poems about Children V

Pan
by Michael R. Burch

Among the shadows of the groaning elms,
amid the darkening oaks, we fled ourselves

Once there were paths that led to coracles
that clung to piers like loosening barnacles

where we cannot return,...

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  I feel so damn trapped in rage 
Like a rainbow lion in a cage 
I feel so much pain in my brain
And it's driving me quite insane

Numb my solace shame
Get me feeling more...

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Ali's Song
by Michael R. Burch
for Muhammad Ali

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,...

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I feel much like trash
When I’m not earning cash
Can’t you see I’m working hard, Lord?
According to Your will, according to Your accord
I feel like I’m worthless
When I’m unable to clean up my mess
Can’t you see...

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One day not long past our economy faltered
And wouldn’t improve if our course were unaltered.

'Cause we buy stuff at Wal-Mart (where things are dirt cheap)
'Cause they buy from China (treats workers like sheep

(So farmers left...

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Forever wondering when I won’t be left behind and upset
Pondering if you’ll ever save me from burying me alive
Wandering in the woods of my spiralling mindset of regret
Squandering my time time after time and I...

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If I can walk ten thousand miles
Just to see your sunlit smiles,
I’d die ten thousand more times
Maybe, a billion times per chime; this time, I’ve committed love crimes

If I can walk infinity times infinity,
Would I...

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You stole away my lonely melody, Lord,
And made it harmony according to Your accord
I’d like to thank You with all of my heart as I make sound
My mind is trying to look forward to a...

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I’m acting – um – rather gloom-struck sour…
Bittersweet like blood my attitude is
But, I must work as a team…what do you want? A kiss?

Chorus: I need you and I want you
I miss you and I...

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The Bedouins, bequeathed with the sacred beauty of paradise harsh,
trusted guardians of jealous gorges and gifted groves
lead me from the Wadi Musa to the humble ingress of Petra,
saying with thrill, the Jin of your Jihad...

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Tell me this…

In your vision,
Am I your mission?
In your eyes,
Are their hints of lies?

Why did you let go of everything you once had?
It’s okay to have a new start; on the otherhand, it’s not bad
They...

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Speechless because you’ve gone away
I woke up, so out of breath today
Hold me safely in the blissfulness of yesterday
Can you just forgive me for my negative ray?

Cast me away into the sea of hope
I roam...

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There is more than one value of a Browned-Coin
and no matter how hard it may be to accept and appreciate their worth
I unlike you
have decided to keep both coins
Shiny and Darkened

Today 
I choose the Browned-Coin...

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You see the past in me
I'm alive...I survived the disdainful rainfall
Don't be shy to ask for help
I arrive...undone and I must've lost it all...cuz I get no where in life at all 
Can't help, but...

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You healed me…you saved me with a kind, kind heart of sympathy
With well-spoken words (and you deleted the history of my endless rage)
Of empathetic wisdom and positivity…erasing the negativity and rehearsing accord in my mind...

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Breathe in and out and don’t fall for the lies of society
We are breathing in pollution of poverty
Heartaches are blameless, but I am blameful 
Shattered and insignificant…left on the floor…wasteful

Apparently, you are different and better...

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