Long Declines Poems

Come, You
by Rainer Maria Rilke
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

This was Rilke’s last poem, written ten days before his death. He died open-eyed in the arms of his doctor on December 29, 1926, in the...

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Archaic Torso of Apollo
by Rainer Maria Rilke
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

We cannot know the beheaded god
nor his eyes' forfeited visions. But still
the figure's trunk glows with the strange vitality
of a lamp lit from within,...

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The Panther
by Rainer Maria Rilke
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

His weary vision's so overwhelmed by iron bars,
his exhausted eyes see only blank Oblivion.
His world is not our world. It has no stars.
No light. Ten thousand...

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This is my translation of the first of Rilke’s Duino Elegies. Rilke began the first Duino Elegy in 1912, as a guest of Princess Marie von Thurn und Taxis, at Duino Castle, near Trieste on...

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The Library of Trust and Hope
The Bank of Trust and Hope

(Cant decide on title, so feel free to pick or suggest one)

She was all but four years of age
Birthdays were such magical moments
The cake was...

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Written: 21 July 2023 
Submitted to No. 1231 New Poem Only Poetry Contest 
Sponsored by Brian Strand 

Bridging the Unbridgeable Chasm*

As rises the wealth of nations,
As grows the limb of a township
So declines the flowers...

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I loved sailing upon the blue sea, and I was never too far from it,
As one who knows sweet cravings, is seldom far from chocolates.

In my previous much loved vessel, I had sailed a thousand...

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Unquotable quotes: Witch-Doctors and Tribal Headmen* – XXIV-Part One

The Uhr-Father of the embodiment of spiritual power since the Middle Ages must certainly have been the Witch-Doctor of primitive societies who shared power with the Headman...

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To Kill a Mockingbird is both a young girl’s coming-of-age story and a more nebulous production about the reasons and consequences of bigotry and discrimination, examining how good and evil can coexist within a particular...

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She runs for President
investing  less carbon footprint and dollars
than did her less permacultural rivals,
a top campaign priority.

He invests his Stone Soup platform
with organic roots of cooperative intent
inviting us to share both what we have...

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The sky has dug a hole in the cloud
it's fuc**** triangle's fault  I can't see the pigs
stratified societies 
revitalized on schizophrenic base of
finger pointing minority
staring at fragmented people 
seeing them as dispensed particles 
that...

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Life is a beauty
From the day a baby starts
Everyone who knows about them 
Keeps them in their hearts
And when a baby’s born
There are tears of joy,
From the mother and the father,
And their little girls and...

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Rumi Verse: The universe is not outside of you. Look inside yourself, everything that you want you already are.
             ______________________________________

Phenotype-inherited flaw chimera
fantasy flurry...

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The Conundrums of Today and the Promise of Tomorrow

A tear of genuine sorrow forming in the eye of an innocent child 
The fear of what the feminine has borrowed in order to represent itself as...

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Growing up with ADHD forces you to adapt,
impulsive behaviour controls how you react,
attention span wanders and naturally distracts,
you face an impact, that in fact, doesn't change how you act.

Turns your face red but still you...

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The Millennium Generation consists of people born between 1980-1999. Perhaps instead they should be called the NONE GENERATION! They are rejecting all religions! Not just the Jewish, Christian and Muslim religions but even Buddhists! The...

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God cannot intervene in sovereignty 
and the boy will plead no innocence. 
Seedlings  cannot control the wind,
in birth the Oak has called their name
 a command from the forest  unseen.

A  biblical sandstorm...

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Chinese translations Li Bai

These are my modern English translations of Chinese poems by Li Bai, who was also known as Li Po.



Zazen on Ching-t’ing Mountain
by Li Bai
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Now the birds have...

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Just for the sake of saying "hello"

Courtesy garden variety/generic common Joe
who strives to achieve becoming 
(even posthumously) 
an esteemed writer likened to outstanding poe
whit – perhaps illusions 
of grandeur must be reined in 
courtesy horse...

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When I write, it's as though my thoughts become the words that shift into armor as they ascend from the depths of my mind and safely enclose me. The pen, clenched in my hand acts...

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It all began in innocence:
A glass of wine, or was it three?
Euphoria and sweet release
That set this thing inside me free.

The very nectar of the gods
splashed forth, producing mirthful joy.
To loose the tongue, the stiffness...

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(presumably still alive
predicated on rumored sightings dive
ving fast as blazing saddles, 
     her blitzkrieg, 
     nothing but a blurry beehive.)

Swifter than Usain
     (lightening)...

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What vile infusion calls me to the brink
Of ruthless fear and callous doubt sown deep
Within my heart, where tides of malice bring
To mind deep wells whence cheerlessness I seep?
I lie, forgotten by the vim of...

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"Le vent se leve, il faut tenter de vivre."
"The wind is rising! We must try to live."
                  ...

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An old gal applied to join Mensa
Gee she couldn’t be any denser
She went in the wrong door
On the thirty third floor
And there she enrolled as a fencer

When attending her first fencing class
A man scored a...

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