Long Dammed Poems

Medieval Poem V

A Proverb from Winfred's Time
anonymous Old English poem, circa 757-786
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

1.
The procrastinator puts off purpose,
never initiates anything marvelous,
never succeeds, and dies alone.

2.
The late-deed-doer delays glory-striving,
never indulges daring dreams,
never succeeds,...

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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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Of Ghosts and fiends in Twilight, Cont.


A thought flashed in my mind from the old tales told
The lore of the beast and I had felt his foul breath
I had seconds to act or be devoured...

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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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Neigh say being  corralled & cult shod 

"Sic semper evello mortem tyrannis"
translation = thus always I 
bring death to tyrants.”

Above the fray of twittering, 
squabbling, and madding crowds,
an arrogantly belligerent creature deified, 
yet vilified...

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Love me and come close to me
Love me and dine with me
Love me and dance with me
Love me and sing with me
It is such a wonderful feeling to wake up this morning
To wake up with...

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It was an early fall day, some decades ago, 
When three of my boys were still young.
Looking forward that year to the Rochester Fair,
An event that was always good fun.

A promise from me I would...

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Down deep beneath fathoms icy keep, where deadmen’s
Scream in utter silences aquatic hell, amongst the devils
Graveyard of wreckage's carnage, there exists a ghostly harbor
Of phantom ships!
Anchored are the souls of the undead, and vessels craft...

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The pale apparition swirls in on night mist.
It envelopes her body, then breathes out its kiss.
Cold to her cheek as the fog to the shore;
She utters a sigh then sleeps deeply once more.
 
She’s new...

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In a land, far away, once upon a time
An ancient place, deep in mystical forests
There lived a sickly old man
The years had passed and he was but an empty shell

Even he had no memories of...

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Crawl out of your peeping hole 
and face me like a man
You have been hiding for years
and paying people to do your sordid scam
For years you have taunted me
without showing any mercy
invading my privacy
monitoring my...

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KING DAY
(A Retrospective Perspective)

			     David said to Solomon his son, be
			strong and of good courage, and do 
			it: fear not, nor be dismayed: for the
			Lord God…will be with thee; he will
...

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Lost in space lost in time with a dream of a world to take as mine one hand full of wishes the other hand filled with plans figured if I mix them together ill come...

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Everyday living becomes more of a truculent battle;
Where survival stands in the way of my living.
While Instinctively trying to live.
I need eyes in the back of my head,
while scratching out a meager existence.
Predators pulling us...

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ESCHATOLOGICAL

Everyday living becomes more of a truculent battle;
Where survival stands in the way of my living.
While Instinctively trying to live.
I need eyes in the back of my head,
while scratching out a meager existence.
Predators pulling us...

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Beware, out-Lander for thy tread on the sacred ground,
Of Louisiana, guarded by the ghosts of the Mississippi,
And here the dead tell know tails, of the living's returning,
After adventuring into the darkness of the night.
Rattle them...

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These steep hills are part of me
Where I learned to ride a bike
And gazed over the industrial haze
And ice-dammed the steep melting  streets
So the toy boat couldn’t
Drift out of control downslope.

Now,  like snow...

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The Dickens
                     Authored by Chuck Keys

Hot thickly sliced juicy turkey
sandwiched a mid fresh bread
tastier than...

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just in case you didn't know,probably because you are an alien in your very world
you owe your altitude to millions down here,who endured the chilly winter to sky-rocket  you to the blue skies
an inflated...

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More' n force gore
     and seven years ago
tha youngest daughter of
     Willian and Sylvia Zison
     found her beau
pea ping over a paperback
 ...

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Come O Muslim, Come Back to Our God,
The Holy Trinity One Lord, Before late it be,
Come O Muslim, Come back before Damnation do thou see

Can you not reason out of heart,
That you have been Misled,...

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In the bay of icy mists, the viking ghost ships arrive, sails set full ahead,
Crashing anchors rattle loose, plunging beneath the cold murky surf,
As the hailing horns of the dead, announce to their lord, Odin,...

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Covered in the jungles evergreen thickets, beneath
Stones and mortars refuge lays an old Mayan crypt,
And on it is written an ancient curse, dare not enter 
Mortal men, or forsake thy living soul, as tributes
Offering at...

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Lord, I now know
Dismiss these tears, 
For they are just tears of joy
My tears of anger
My tears of remorse
And my tears of fear
Have been dammed by the realization
That I am ultimate
And an unbelievable testimony to...

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