Long Complaint Poems

Chinese Poets: English Translations II

These are modern English translations of poems by the Chinese poets Tzu Yeh, Lin Huiyin, Xu Zhimo and Huang E. These are poems about love, passion and beauty. 


Tzu Yeh (circa...

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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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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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Spoken: Life happens when change changes us
Well, that change, unfortunately, made us fuss

Wait…
Time is a valuable notion 
It determines our emotion 
Being taken advantaged of, time and time again, hurts
In return, you hand me shirts...

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The Rhine Salmon Complaint, Translation of Etiemble’s Complainte d’un salmon du Rhin

						For Yvon Belaval
(A lilting musical poem of varying line length in quatrains with a refrain and much internal
 rhyming; end-rhyme scheme: alternate rhymes in...

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Lost In the Mists Parts I - IV

                           ...

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uncomfortableness, and hesitation arose that you might reassess a possibility for friendship or.... whatever with me.

A disappointment set in place in the event that based on some facet of my being (inexplicable flaws within this...

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Date:  October   2051

Back at the main house Polly became reacquainted with everybody. Mama Lucinda entered from the path door. Recall their
Cool relationship Polly played her hand carefully. 
"Hello Misses Hakim. So happy...

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A harrowing drive on the Schuylkill Expressway
(route 76) both heading into
(and a small number of hours later
exiting) center city Philadelphia
to Schwenksville on May 19th, 2024.

Yours truly (a doodling Yankee), and the missus
went to town, NOT...

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Unquotable quotes: Paris, the last week of the August reprieve – XXXV
 Part One                     ...

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Date:   April  2051
Damian Molly Continuation 
Dolly and Molly had a plan to complete 
Their exploration before the trip home
In another two days, Molly reported 
This to Damian. As they comforted
Each other in...

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Way out in the desert      

                        ...

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Landlord-Tenant Relationship Protection: Available Help Hot-Lines!

Greetings everyone and I pray that each of you will overcome this coronavirus pandemic, which has impacted many communities in various ways. The Census Bureau assessment paints an image that's...

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 Diary Notes: Lament at Dawn A Year Ago and yet now No Change
				                     ...

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Metaphor of outrage, Translation of Carlos Bousono’s poem : Metafora del desafuero

			                    ( In celebration of...

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A healthy dose of invective flourishes at Highland Manor asylum

I hate to be curt,
but welcome to the monkey house
at 2 highland manor drive,
where all manner of imbeciles go berserk.

I and the missus
(thee unfortunate recipient
of poisonous...

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Darius was the Medo-Persian king,
Which means he was in charge of everything.
One hundred twenty satraps gave account,
So he would have an up-to-date amount;
All this so that he might not suffer loss.

‘Since that’s a lot of...

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Sing Broken Beyond Mankind


because I speak


                IN   

          ...

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"Our Father in Heaven"

You are my God, my Savior and my Father. You fill the earth, the seas, the sky and the heavens, and you fill my heart. I am your child and you love...

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How to attach a shower curtain...

I revisit rather than write from scratch
a poem crafted May twenty third 
two thousand and twenty
since the following words apropos
and amply serve a duplicate purpose
of aforementioned title,
when yours truly enlisted
(before...

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Ech day me cometh tydinges thre
"Each Day Three Tidings Come to Me"
(anonymous Middle English poem, circa the 13th century AD)
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Each day I’m plagued by three doles,
These gargantuan weights on my...

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Creative cerebral craftiness coaxes...

Childhood campy chimera curtain call
subsequently hinting (based on accuweather)
the approach of blizzard squall
so burrow under quilted cover y'all
until warm temperatures arrive when springtime
ushers social media platforms 
buzzfeeding earthlinked instant karma 
jump/kickstarting linkedin...

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Part 2

The passengers were a well-heeled lot who
    Had no experience to the rigors at sea.
And their disillusionment grew... on seeing the crew
    Entirely encrusted with earwigs and fleas.

But...

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So on jobs, it’s nice and rewarding to be recognized and commended for your outstanding work performance. However, even though you are one of their greatest assets, there still are times when many managers and...

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HERE. ONCE STOOD OUR HOME

I can't forget in a hurry,
Here once stood our ancestral home,
As was told my great- great- great- grand father
Who told my great-great-grand father,
Who told my great grand father and who 
In...

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