Long Elevations Poems

Final Lullaby
by Michael R. Burch

for my mother, Christine Ena Burch

Sleep peacefully—for now your suffering’s over.

Sleep peacefully—immune to all distress,
like pebbles unaware of raging waves.

Sleep peacefully—like fields of fragrant clover
unmoved by any motion of the wind.

Sleep...

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The Square Root of Beiruit 
 
Ten men bending while theyre pretending to be near the ending
A capitalist nightmare glares like rotten fruit
The squate root of Beiruit
No it isn’t fair, so they’ll start to loot
 
The soldiers are...

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Sappho, fragment 155
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

A short transparent frock?
It's just my luck
your lips were made to mock!

NOTE: This is a translation/interpretation of an epigram by the legendary Sappho of Lesbos. Pollux wrote: "Sappho...

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In the bitterest of the cold polar north shadows of illusions dwell,
Reflections of light on ice, maybe so or is there more to these
Optical delusions, the natives say creatures hide amongst these
Rocky snow covered hills,...

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"All My Life"

(Verse 1)
Closing my eyes
Dreaming (dreaming)
Everything is not always
What it seems (and)
Here i am 
All these years
Been doing more laughing
Instead of all these tears(tears)
Living life a second at a time(of time)
Life seems like a...

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" There's more to me"

(Verse 1 )
Come here boy is what "I said"
I want to take you places 
But not to bed 
Not messing with your head (your head)
Just want to get to know you...

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" There's more to me"

(Verse 1 )
Come here boy is what "I said"
I want to take you places 
But not to bed 
Not messing with your head (your head)
Just want to get to know you...

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4/30/17 


Underneath what they consider lunar 
Don't care if your name is super 
So much for your future 
And all of the rumors 
There is nowhere you can go to outmaneuver 
When I turn into...

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most people don't have a problem admitting that God did It
but won't add more to that phrase and give themselves some credit
yes, God can do everything of that there is no doubt
but He will use...

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Why am I being pushed to such corners?
I'm all over the place, and I'm making foolish blunders. 
I'm a child, but I have no one to hide behind.
I'm exposed, and I cannot understand the current...

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It’s hard for me to take 
My own advice
I’m writing what I’m fighting 
But I’m still playing 
With my life 
I don’t even understand 
The issues of my own brain
I go from addiction to affliction...

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Bowls of clouds pad down peaks settling for the night
Shades of gray illustrate patterns symmetrically

Majestic ridges project abundantly, appears to be like carvings, but in 
essence, years of erosion has set forth the wonders of...

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I don't know what exactly attracted me to it
I don't know why or how it resonated within me

Something old and characterful, perhaps it saw an equal in me?

The lane is old and windy, the traction...

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They’ve always been there, unaware
When I felt lonely, lost, longing
For the presence of the light’s caress,
Softly unfolding beyond the azure
Skies, whispering joy over my soul, into
Shimmering that twinkles, above
In the skies and below, in my...

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When lost in the woods
one wanders lugubriously directionless
in the weeds vines and branches
obstructing the altogether magnificent world
that abounds and surrounds
the muddled mind of the soul-filled seeker:

Truth traveler and mystical unraveller
plodding ahead confused in dread
of what...

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Wrapped in a secret day of thoughts, I pondered,
If I should overturn my soul, to wear it on my face as a garment.
Would it have unfolded with stitch and patch apparent,
Or perhaps its embodiment would...

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'Tis pretty well established, God made Colorado for his vacations,
Creating the beautiful Colorado Rockies with towering elevations!
Hordes of "flat-landers" seek the good life in these lofty latitudes,
But soon discover they must alter their mental and...

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Bathed in nectar dew drops, now
the damsel spring stealthily 
tiptoes into the hamlet
with all its strength.

The south breeze plays
fifth symphony on tender new leaves,
flings the grey garment of fugitive winter
on the tether of time.
The red...

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Across the edges of the blue ridges
Caressing the emerald pine and whispering
Gentle thoughts through the birch
Calming hearts with this mysterious touch
From the fiery paintbrush of the Almighty

Morning clings to the heart with a gentle sun
Embracing...

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Bold, wide, and gently rolling or narrow, crisp, and clear, 
rushing over bedrock. Broad shouldered to carry the burden
of the depths, or lithe and athletic, coursing swiftly down a
stream. Men stand and gaze transfixed by...

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She ravaged all the romance
Cheshire grinning with some kind of graceful guile
Devouring the warmth of the glow, oh how we glowed!!
Batting those lashes, fire flickers like dancers
  in the shine of her eyes...this is...

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June the most beautiful month, delivered the most angelic Angels
                      ...

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Sickness depresses my spirit
And shut down the doors of the sense organs
My soul recoils within the shell of my body
My heart retreats to a solemn feast.

There is within the flesh a great void of vanity
The...

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On this grassy meadow
where daisies look mellow,
I'm watching the silent waterfall,
which splashes its clear waters
on rocks that never feel sun-rays, or cool winds. 


Looking above, the bright color
of the spring sky seems to reflect
the fall's...

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Tremendous vastness of Grand Canyon,
the earth drops away in escalation
reveling rims of canyon elevations.
River is slicing rocks
exposing chasm of gorges.
Chiseled by water 
vertical walls of rocks
are descending into abysses.
Canyon rims of mountains chasm,
eroding and falling...

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