Long Chastened Poems

I Know The Truth
by Marina Tsvetaeva
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

I know the truth?abandon lesser truths!
There's no need for anyone living to struggle!
See? Evening falls, night quickly descends!
So why the useless disputes?generals, poets, lovers?

The wind...

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Winter Awakens My Care
anonymous Middle English poem, circa 1300
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Winter awakens all my care
as leafless trees grow bare.
For now my sighs are fraught
whenever it enters my thought:
regarding this world's joy,
how everything...

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Salve
by Michael R. Burch

for the victims and survivors of 9-11

The world is unsalvageable ...
but as we lie here
in bed
stricken to the heart by love
despite war’s
flickering images,

sometimes we still touch,

laughing, amazed,
that our flesh
does not despair
of love
as...

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These are prophetic poems and apocalyptic poems about the earth, climate change, global warming, extinction events, and mankind's role on an endangered world ...



Polish
by Michael R. Burch

Your fingers end in talons?
the ones you trim to...

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The Rhymed Poem aka The Rhyming Poem and The Riming Poem
Old English Poem (i.e., Anglo-Saxon Poem) from the Exeter Book, ca. 990 AD
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

He who granted me life created this sun
and...

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The Rhymed Poem aka The Rhyming Poem and The Riming Poem - Part II
anonymous Old English Poem from the Exeter Book, circa 990 AD
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

He who granted me life created this...

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8.Reading

I see them all rise to an endless sky.
Tumbling burnt pages from raging fire,
To leave ash of closer, to pacify.
A single deep breath near flaming pyre.
To see destruction with a silent face.
My eyes will cry...

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It was not uncommon to discover a missing Brother Legionary
castrated, and decapitated
with a headless eagle carved upon his chest,
don't speak to me of morals and mercy
for I have seen and dealt the damage of rude...

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[Before you read, here's something you should know. Parenthesis after the line means the definition of that line.]

Chastened by sudden change in mind - I'm exhausted, so stop treading my trail of thought if you...

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The elderly, the injured,
The deficient, the mentally ill,
The sick, the chastened,
The weary, the suicidal,
The innocent, the broken,
The lost, lost, LOST ...
You are NOT there with them ... 
Only sadness and loss and pain.
The animals, the...

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Proverbs 16:18 (KJV) “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.”

I’ve been ashamed,
Ashamed of my lack of understanding,
My lack of consideration,
My lack of care and concern,
My lack of admiration.

I’ve been ashamed,
Ashamed of...

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Hidden beauty resides not in the grace like charms
Of coy smiles 
Painted across a gentle Madonnas face.
Nor is she vested within the chastened vows
Of saintly knights; encased Great-Helm:
Thus maketh the pale maidens meek pulse
To so...

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POEMS ABOUT SCIENCE 5: EVOLUTION



Fly’s Eyes
by Michael R. Burch

Inhibited, dark agile fly along
paint-peeling sills, up to the bright glass drawn
by radiance compounded thousandfold,—
I do not see the same as you, but hold
antenna to the brilliant...

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Thralldom etched in Homo sapiens (mine) DNA

Though your true blue stated civilian
never enlisted nor impressed,
nonetheless I own an opinion
originally embarked on poetic quest
to express purposelessness,

when soldiers rest
at peace i.e. eternally,
many attired courtesy
smart uniform strong with...

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When urinating into the toilet bowl...

yours truly (me) could not help but notice
while living social at various residences  
within Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
the following described phenomena 
actually observed quite some time ago
maybe back during
my carefree...

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Feather to feather on a branch, this early winter morning,
Are they planning outings for the day or of grave dangers warning?

A predator comes swooping by, a red-tailed hawk in plunder.
As of one mind they fly...

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While Shepherds watched their flocks by night all seated on the ground
The ewes collected up their lambs and gathered them around
"Listen now," the old Ewe said, "you young lambs listen well,
If you all want to...

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THE MUSE by Anna Akhmatova

This is my English translation of a Russian poem by Anna Akhmatova…

The MUSE
by Anna Akhmatova
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

My being hangs by a thread tonight
as I await a Muse no...

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There on the shore, before the ocean,
I talked with God- devoid of motion
Like windless, cloudy night I stood
Becoming One with ease and solitude.
In lack of anger and of morbid noise-
Possessed by calm and even voice-
I...

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I die
to who I am not
to my anger and resentment
to my fear of ridicule and rejection
to my hurts and misgivings.
to my being vengeful and unforgiving
to my self-sufficiency and isolation
to my contempt of self and others.

I...

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If I could find the rhyme Father  																	 describing how perfect you are           											          ...

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Why can't I do it how I want to do it?
Been told my rhymes are sophomoric - at best
I may violate pentameter but I write what I like
Why must it pass some journal's vapid test?

Behind...

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I have been to places of great death:
walking the battlefield at Gettysburg,
as a lusty young man of no firm belief
who stepped between the great rocks
of Devil's Den and felt his soul shudder
as though he had...

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~MY PEARL WITHOUT PRICE~
 

MANY YEARS I SO SAILED,’PON TH’ LONELIEST OF SEAS...
SEARCHING VAST THEIR DEPTHS,FOR AN TREASURE MOST ELUSIVE...
NO FEAR NOR DOUBT WOULD DENY ME,WHAT DESTINY DETERMINED MINE...
‘VEN TH’ LEVIATHAN PERMITTED TO TEST ME,WOULD...

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The angel of death watches over me; 
Presiding, a faceless black valkyrie 
With eyes of varnished jet 
And the soul of a chastened murderer 
He loves me, he wants me - he yearns…
He dreams of...

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