Long Befell Poems

I feel in führer rated and envious...

entrapped within webbed wide world
weft as a rump pulled stilts skein
at warp speed exhibiting
my heroic trumpian wiles
cuz he (johnny come lately) a then 
exemplary hedonist, narcissist, 
and polygamist dons
comical,...

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The Philistine troops gathered up for war,
Between Azekah and Socoh amassed.
Israel encamped near in Elah vale
And drew a line against the number vast.
There Saul, upon one mountain, made a stand,
To face the other tribe across...

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A funny frog called Mr Snog,
once lived beside a slimy bog,
he was a most peculiar fellow,
his hat was red, his boots were yellow,
his waistcoat was an olive green,
the strangest sight you’ve ever seen,
no matter where...

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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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Back in 1962 when I was just a lad
my dad gave me a holiday
the best I ever had.
A holiday of every dream
that one lifetime could hold
so listen while this wondrous time 
to you I now...

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*There are only two damsels in this tale; all variations were simply for ease of writing.

Once Kate and Isabella went
To see the pretty fields of Gwent
And traipse through forest shade
They packed a picnic lunch for...

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My mind is a war wasteland equipped with exploding landmines
decisions limited; sharpened claws are sinking into me
scarring my flesh upon impact into my lungs
breathe...I can't...breathe
I admit I'm not sure, I admit I'm confused
I admit I...

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To Kill a Mockingbird is both a young girl’s coming-of-age story and a more nebulous production about the reasons and consequences of bigotry and discrimination, examining how good and evil can coexist within a particular...

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commissioning and attempted escape
“Son of Amittai, to Nineveh, go
And tell them of their great impending woe;
Their evil, like a stench, has come to me.”

But Jonah ran; he traveled down to Joppa.
(Wait, Jonah who? Oh, Amittai’s...

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The Ancient Viking Warrior In His Old Age, 
A Collaboration With Vladislav Raven

Part (1.)

Biding his time, as each day wrangles its hours away
his soul resting between heaven and Hade's hot fires
for wanton desires shall demand...

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A walk home 
...And there he lie in fetid squalor,
Upon the chaise in vacant parlour...

“What befell this young man?” a query.
A sorrowful tale - tis quite dreary. 
Tricks! The superstitious mind doth play. 
Bested -...

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SAMHUINN
Wi samhuin fast approaching
When people start tae dread,
The gates of hell burst open
For the festival of the dead.

Bane shanks lifts his scythe
And scrieves his words in fire,
Welcome tae this earthly plane
Or be cast upon the...

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EVE NELL
BY

JOHN M. ARRIBAS

EVA NELL WAS A BEAUTIFUL BABY,  LATER A TEEN
A GORGEOUS WOMAN,  AS HAS EVER BEEN SEEN
COQUETTISH, CHARMING, WITH  INVITING SIGHS
SOME SAID THERE WAS EVIL BEHIND THOSE EYES
OF ALL THE...

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“Something Beautiful” 

Something beautiful befell my eyes
yet inside the silent child,
The Unheard, loudly cries 
ugly turn away, 

I hear it,

it cries in the mirror,
turn me away -
it cries, yet I am that I am forthright...

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When we arrived at the U.S. border as a family
We were far from welcomed in, we were made an example of
Ripped apart by ICE-cold border patrol officers. Our cries
Fell on deaf ears. I have no...

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1. Ripples in warm sunbeams dwell.
From a sandy cocoon I wake and stir.
A floater in the blue does knell,
A dot, a stain, a blackened blur.
Am I the only one who sees?
No, the beach is afoot...

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These are English translations/modernizations of Medieval poems written in Old English and/or Middle English.


The Maiden’s Song aka The Bridal Morn
anonymous Medieval lyric
translation by Michael R. Burch

The maidens came to my mother’s bower.
I had all I...

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Part - 1.

Biding his time, as each day wrangles its hours away
his soul resting between heaven and Hade's hot fires
for wanton desires shall demand highest of life's pay
from blood flowing until care and want expires
battles...

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KING ALFRED THE GREAT MODERN ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS

King Alfred the Great (circa 849-899) was the first English king to be a notable scholar, poet and translator. Alfred has been credited with translating Latin works of Boethius...

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Visualize my children and you shall look
Upon the voyage of Captain James R. Cook;
It was the eighteenth of January in Seventeen Seventy-Eight;
Hardly a Hawaiian can forget the Date;
What befell upon the Islands was a terrible...

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How is one to passage through shall misfortune nay take root?
Is beyond my knowledge for never once within had I sat foot
It is the will of the Goddess Word, to be cursed and to be...

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"But when you showed me what happiness looked like, I shook harder, sobbed, wailed and bawled; tore at your clothes, your perfect, perfect face, and said, "This could never be mine."" - the poet.

It seems...

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Metaphorical troubled waters deluge
pitched me to and fro,
analogous to ghosts
that haunted Ebenezer Scrooge,
yours truly violently tossed
impossible mission to experience refuge

except when deeply engrossed
between bound pages
thick and juicy tome one garden variety
generic bookworm doth ravish
escape courtesy...

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His voice raised, with the right hand
And a proud, angry face to the sky,
The sage chanted mastered hymns aloud;
His strange mission was to send
King Satyavrata into the abode high;
The latter was under a cloud of...

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My aching Tears

My tears ache, they cry out, reaching for sun beams,
only to find, to feel, - touch nothing - lifeless , empty dreams
are all around, surround me in that nothing it seems,
leaving me to...

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