Long Compassed Poems

Medieval Poems

How Long the Night
anonymous Middle English lyric, circa early 13th century AD
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

It is pleasant, indeed, while the summer lasts
with the mild pheasants' song ...
but now I feel the northern...

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Rejection
a roundel by Geoffrey Chaucer
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Your beauty from your heart has so erased
Pity, that it's useless to complain;
For Pride now holds your mercy by a chain.

I'm guiltless, yet my sentence has...

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Rondels, Roundels and Rondeaux

These are poetic forms similar to villanelles, with refrains (repeated lines) and sometimes double refrains.



Rondel: Merciles Beaute ("Merciless Beauty")
by Geoffrey Chaucer
loose translation/interpretation Michael R. Burch

Your eyes slay me suddenly;
their beauty I cannot...

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                             I dreamed I went to heaven,

...

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Far beyond the horizon we gazed at sunlit skies 
glowing from gigantic mountains, thick blue clouds
hang peacefully over our heads, painting hopes and 
aspirations as we journey relentlessly to recapture
our dreams.

We have been climbing this...

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5.

                                  ...

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(A Presentiment: two lost Wint souls alone converse,
so mind the grown gap——Longshoreman’s Fall hearse.)

"The last boat draws near, allow us depart."
All aboard, all aboard—!
"So Time has pierced now, as a bull's-eye dart."
All aboard, all aboard—!

I....

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Four times, nay, five it's true, Grim Reaper  defied.
The first was when down Hollywood streets I flew at Ninety five.
Averting wheel, I turned it fast
and struck my head on window's glass
Past throngs of people...

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              To wallow in the fires is a tempting 
surrender.
A swan dive into the maelstromic implode 
of mushroom clouds, return to 
sender....

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Blessed is the man who never walks in counsel of the ungodly. For why do the heathen rage? And the people imagine a vain thing? How are they increased that trouble me? Have mercy upon...

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Three Roundels by Geoffrey Chaucer

I. Merciles Beaute ("Merciless Beauty")
by Geoffrey Chaucer
translation by Michael R. Burch

Your eyes slay me suddenly;
their beauty I cannot sustain,
they wound me so, through my heart keen.

Unless your words heal me hastily,
my...

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,,, ---…C l o u d s…--- ,,,

Wondrously enchanting
clouds have pulled my sight above…

Greeting me with “Behold our beauty”
clouds constantly check my appreciation-appraisal
engaging me to thank the Supreme Being beyond the sky…

Captivating me since childhood...

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        We are not accidental like a spill,
                incidentals, we are Elementals 
...

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The Christian life is not always all easy
for the Lord's way has many a bumpy road
those that deny this are biblically in error
scriptures clear, His seed will be sowed

The believer believes in their saviour
but also...

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I always knew I was going to be a man so great,
I saw it coming but I didn’t know It was going to be this late,
I put in a lot of effort and ran tediously...

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Aware of Captain America's fame
I commend its creator for great aim
Exposing virtues, surpassing grand name
Such as having good character to claim.

Worthy of emulation, though fiction
Captain America’s strong conviction
On what is proper against wrong action
Prevails toward...

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Like a blanket God so covers me 
In my head my ears bleed 
And yet I can see my weaknesses revealed 
Some evil ones try to constrict me 
Fowl evil spirits try to convict me...

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In my mind I was on the six hundred-sixty six-floor;
In Hades
Things weren't well
I need help Satan's elevator got me 
so elevated, escalated, heightened, high, increased, all jacked up, raised
I keep pushing the seventh button but...

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**Deuteronomy 32:4 - He (God) us the Rock, His work is perfect: for all His ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is He."

Also Psalms 10:14-18


You promised me endless...

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In facing various challenges along life’s race*
With every struggle marked by sin-caused misery
My faith seeks God to strengthen my salvation-zeal
So I can stand upon His grace that’s triumphant.

While battling against numerous adversaries 
Along worldliness of...

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      With factories and private jets, the elite 
produces 100, 000 times more carbon 
than you or I. (It has gone up to .04 from .03 ppm. 
Yet, we are...

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DEAR LORD
I love to please thee, dear lord.
              But two worlds in my heart,
        ...

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Having commenced in God's salvation grace
I continue* in His sanctification grace
...calling unto Him through His supplication grace
...cleaving to His satisfaction grace
...clinging along His sufficing grace
...communing with Him by His strengthening grace
...choosing to stay inside His...

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Gone now is the despair of separation angst
By faith, I'm relieved from great loss-bondage.
                     ...

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Beneath His Breath,
Sightless Horizon in the skylight of earth,
Where cherubs tread on imperceptible ground.
He command the Gates of Heaven to remain with a view, 
Pouring out the exceeding abundantly blessings, 
Endless flight taking on butterfly's...

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