Long Blameless Poems

These are translations of some of the oldest Japanese waka, which evolved into tanka, renga and haiku. 

While you decline to cry,
high on the mountainside
a single stalk of plumegrass wilts.
—O no Yasumaro (circa 711), translation...

Read More

Watching wan moonlight
illuminate tree limbs,
my heart also brims,
overflowing with autumn.
—Ono no Komachi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

As I slept in isolation
my desired beloved appeared to me; 
therefore, dreams have become my reality
and consolation. 
—Ono...

Read More

As I slept in isolation
my desired beloved appeared to me; 
therefore, dreams have become my reality
and consolation. 
—Ono no Komachi, translation by Michael R. Burch

Submit to you—is that what you advise? 
The way the ripples...

Read More

Turkish Poetry Translations II

Çanakkale Sehitlerine
"For the Çanakkale Martyrs"
by Mehmet Akif Ersoy
loose English translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Was there ever anything like the Bosphorus war??
The earth’s mightiest armies pressing Marmara,
Forcing entry between her mountain passes
To a...

Read More

Hark and listen well, if those foretoken in the eyes of hungers lust
Trapped in their illusion, trampling the Stars into dust
Forced with the detestation stench by the swamp of absolute disgust
Thou blackest scorpion be accursed,...

Read More

A perfect world
From A-Z…

Actually addicted attitude apologetic they assume while I'm angst in my room
Bold not blameless but blame shooting out like bullets
Critics just quit it, calculated moves, claim to have your back until you...

Read More

Ask your friend, neighbour or even a stranger newly-met
Have they ever been damaged by a ‘trust’ ….now turned ‘regret’?
Most men, if not all, have fashioned their character on personal experience
Yet these damned hypocrites are themselves...

Read More

Mehmet Akif Ersoy: Modern English Translations of Turkish Poems

Mehmet Âkif Ersoy (1873-1936) was a Turkish poet, author, writer, academic, member of parliament, and the composer of the Turkish National Anthem.



Snapshot
by Mehmet Akif Ersoy
loose English translation/interpretation...

Read More

K169 and K170 of CANTO XVII of the THIRUK-KURAL with Translations and Commentary

[If one could put together all that has been said, written and published on the Thiruk-Kural and on its progenitor Thiru-Valluvar, it could...

Read More

Things

I’m scared of the dark
I’m scared of all the things I’ve said to you
I’m like a scared lark,
Running into you and things of that nature…am I full of rue?

I feel like I’ve said too much
I...

Read More

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...

Read More

Please don’t pretend that I’m not around
I know you hear me, calling out to you 
You ignore me as if I was a muted sound 
I know you hear my echoes I do so true

Your...

Read More

Jesus is the word of God, through him all things are made
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, 
And the Word was God
The Word became flesh and dwelt among us
So...

Read More

Platitudes of Exactitude

Platitudes of exactitude redefining my whole attitude 
Don’t want to seem rude but I can’t help but conclude 
That the truth will protrude 
From a form that just wants to be misconstrued 

Everything...

Read More

Zero.
By which nothing is divided.
No zero
no negative
no opposite
no hope
no Adam, no apple, no marriage, no morning.
No mirror
no knowledge
no God, no soul, no ear lobe, no Iliad, no Odyssey.
No universe
no black hole
no zodiac
no hero
no mission, no...

Read More

??Mark 9:1 NIV??
[1] And he said to them, “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.” 

??Acts 1:7-8...

Read More

I find it amusing
on this perpetually empowering Election
impassioned Selection EarthDay

To wonder why
we have bedroom communities
and yet not live and thrive communications
for eco-political dialogue,
and not so much partisan
disempowering debate,
against co-empowering green governance,

Why not more nakedly
and transparently...

Read More

                                  ...

Read More

The journey out of Egypt...
It whipped me in chains of captivated reverie
Unnatural liberty clearly doesn't free you and me
It's all about the journey out of Egypt...
Out of exile...
I'll run the extra mile...
Just to see you...

Read More

                         The idea is to...


      ...

Read More

HOPE BY N3
Slashed at the throat a blow aimed not at the esophagus but at the vocal cords
Paralyzed by something worst than fear,
Speech grows limp even as silent screams are constrained by shame’s chord.
Tethered like...

Read More

The Goal of Life:

"Finally, my fellow believers, continue to rejoice and delight in the Lord. To write the same things again is no trouble for me, and it is a safeguard for you. Look out...

Read More

There's a defender among us, a friend who never surrenders or concedes
No thief is he, who offers encouragement to people with his kind deeds

A rapscallion, devoted to negativity, brings gloom to Poetry Soup Forest,
a site...

Read More

How cryptic would I have to be to get this off my chest
One score and yet it seems like yesterday it was the best
Most simple feeling that a girl could ever come to realize
A moment...

Read More

DOOMSDAY:

All claim they revering Almighty GOD,
Same time hailing graven images as their lord.
Plainly they see it no wrong;
The inappropriate way of procuring mammon.
And their advertisment is just a come-on.
Now a norm having an individual deity,
And...

Read More