Long Bethlehem Poems

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 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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These are prophetic poems and apocalyptic poems ...






Beast 666
by Michael R. Burch

“... what rough beast ... slouches toward Bethlehem to be born?”?W. B. Yeats

Brutality is a cross
wooden, blood-stained,
gas hissing, sibilant,
lungs gilled, deveined,
red flecks on a...

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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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- 2016 -

- JANUARY -

A freezing cold evening

Where the stars shining bright

With frost blade flanks

From mouth and nose steam

In the clear silence

White untrodden snows

Nature's frozen pulse

Sleep like a little baby

One gracious moon

After the night the...

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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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Various Heresies 2

You
by Michael R. Burch

For thirty years You have not spoken to me;
I heard the dull hollow echo of silence
as though strange communion between us.

For thirty years You would not open to me;
You remained...

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These are early poems of mine, written as a high school student in the 10th grade. 

as Time walked by
by Michael R. Burch

yesterday i dreamed of us again,
when
the air, like honey,
trickled through cushioning grasses,
softly flowing,...

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Sonnets LXXI-LXXX

Because You Came to Me
by Michael R. Burch

Because you came to me with sweet compassion
and kissed my furrowed brow and smoothed my hair,
I do not love you after any fashion,
but wildly, in despair.

Because you...

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The tears well up, and scarce could she not moan
When father, brother, husband, all have died.
She now has no possessions, neither home,
But travels to a distant, unknown land:
Once so secure, yet now compelled to roam;
Once...

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I sing my songs with rageful joy in mind,
Forgetting the past struggles, aches and sorrows
That intertwine with my mind’s eye, leaving all of me behind
Forgiving others of their wrongs for better tomorrows

You know who comforts...

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Mary was a virgin girl:
With big dreams and aspirations!
An angel came to visit her:
With honor and salutations!
Troubled by his sayings:
She did not know what to think!
The angel said to Mary:
My dear, no need to shrink!

Mary...

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Christmas With Christ Poem/Story Contest
Sponsor: Isaiah Zerbst

Way before Jesus Christ was born, I was one of a chosen few,
to be a spiritual Being attending to God. 
I thought I was really nobody special, 
but He...

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A Place Not Meant To Be
           
PART: II            (699 of 1487 words)

#9: Days of...

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SIBLING RIVALRY BETWEEN THE CHILDREN OF ABRAHAM

For thousands of years animosity has existed between the Arabs and the Jews, we know this, but what is the reason? 
Let’s go back in time and try to...

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In the May-time of my life
time bloomed each day a prickly boll –
but I, like the softest cotton within such a sharp seed  
swaddled in the purity of security 
for what seemed like eternity...

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Honey. 
A question.

One?

For now.
Subject to chain-reaction change.

As long as we're clear
about our lack of restraining rules.

Quite so, dear.
I'm wondering about that line
"Jesus is the reason
for the Season."
What was the reason
before JesusSeason?

I mean,
Joseph and Mary
and their...

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I woke last night and read my Poe
and asked is all that we see or seem
but a dream within a dream of a dream?
I know what I don’t know what I know.

In Bethlehem’s cradle, a...

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I wrote this poems some years ago when I was invited to be on a television program to read a Christmas poem to children as they gathered around me...I had not written a Christmas poem...

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It is no small feat to attempt to speak 
of the dying of our Lord
who sacrificed Himself for us 
by a fate far worse than fire or by sword.  
For one as whom not...

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Placed 8th in :
No. 1264 New Poem Only Poetry Contest
Sponsored by Brian Strand

                   The Light Of Nativity

...

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“Gods Like Men”



you the small men 
who war like gods

mystery that never was
in a likeness formed

through the mirrors
of the soul of God

a darkness
and a light 

the next star rising
after Sunset comes the Morning

you the small...

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In a house high on a hill an old man grows weak, many years have gone, he lays in his old bed,
Back in the day, a dashing young officer with a brilliant red uniform he...

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Glory and The Lamb  30/9/16

I was a lamb, not yet a sheep
but I was there,
yes I was there.

Where were you little lamb?

I was out in the beautiful wide open spaces
our home was not far...

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It's almost Christmas
when the news caster abouter announces
a precipitous new trend in the U.S.

Now, more tired and climate stressed citizens
are against non-violent Political Correctness
than for political and economic government business
as contentiously nationalistic 
and ineffectively partisan...

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