Long Expire Poems

Beckoning
by Michael R. Burch 
 
Yesterday the wind whispered my name
while the blazing locks
of her rampant mane
lay heavy on mine.
And yesterday
I saw the way
the wind caressed tall pines
in forests laced by glinting streams
and thick with...

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The Tender Weight of Her Sighs
by Michael R. Burch

The tender weight of her sighs
lies heavily upon my heart;
apart from her, full of doubt,
without her presence to revolve around,
found wanting direction or course,
cursed with the thought...

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Let Me Give Her Diamonds
by Michael R. Burch

Let me give her diamonds
for my heart's
sharp edges.

Let me give her roses
for my soul's
thorn.

Let me give her solace
for my words
of treason.

Let the flowering of love
outlast a winter
season.

Let me...

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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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As to the this and the that and the how and the why,
    I pass no judgement on the tale at hand.
And leave it to scribes to much later decide
  ...

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A Glimpse In A Life
By James Hackett Jr


Grasping Sand
The harder i try to reach you, the gap seems to expand.
Its like grasping at sand the harder I squeeze the more slips through.
I do not know...

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Of new pains new verses must be composed 
To give matter for the canto twenty
Of the canticle first, treating sunk posed.

I just was inclined with desires many
To thoroughly look at the open deep,
Which was moisten...

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MICHELANGELO: Modern English Translations

Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) is considered by many experts to be the greatest artist and sculptor of all time. These are modern English translations of his poems and epigrams by Michael R. Burch.



SONNET:...

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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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There are actual people
half woman half man
running mornings and
dream people in movies
half language half light.
Tomorrow is John’s funeral.

		*			*			*

This is my minute
my moment
Oops, gone!

Anything can happen
if you don’t resist
Resist!

		*			*			*

But who am I? You think bullets won’t
kill?...

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Love is so overrated
But, my love towards you, in which I prize,
Is, to you, overrated

Melt away my heart of ice
I'll be your living sacrifice
Roll the dice, play the piano
Pay the price, te amo...te amo…
I watch...

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Turkish Poetry Translations I



Ben Sana Mecburum: "You are indispensable"
by Attila Ilhan
translation by Nurgul Yayman and Michael R. Burch

You are indispensable; how can you not know
that you're like nails riveting my brain? 
I see your eyes...

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That soft-spoken Sovereign commands a big stick, 
runs the world into ruins, once our bailiwick.
If asked why, He grins grimly, pale lips slightly pursed:
"Vindication? Straightforward: It's Me and Me First" 

(To mesmerise people He needed...

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Out in that sky, no one sleeps, not even the stars.

We are at the 24-hour late-nite diner

and they’re serving up fruit

from the plants growing out of the floor.

We watch bodies fall to the ground outside

like...

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We could invite many ways
to slice and dice the prism
EcoFeminist.

I first ran into this label
when spoken by a sexual advocate
in the early 70s
at the University of Michigan,
from the mouth of a transgendering ecofeminist
who felt more...

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Your life is a sandwich with many layers
Your knife slaughtered me as you bewitch my mind with thought-slayers
Coming undone by this bleeding hate-love relationship 
You tease me with insults that make me wanna cry, but...

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An Echo Poem

Original: If I Kissed It - Poem by Brian Johnston

If I kissed it, would that make it better? 
Are you needing much more than a friend? 
Would it help if I held you...

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Platitudes of Exactitude

Platitudes of exactitude redefining my whole attitude 
Don’t want to seem rude but I can’t help but conclude 
That the truth will protrude 
From a form that just wants to be misconstrued 

Everything...

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Their mere weapon was their forbidden courage, hands barren with  no armaments, no ammunitions, marching towards the proud valley of death, dedication born from their sempiternal dreams of a free land. 

Their bare weapon...

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Beneath the mantel's alabaster gleam
Where verdigris flames pirouette, in cerulean ballet's beam...
We gather close—a familial love—
In hallowed halls where chimes of crystal laughter, stream.
Amid the yuletide glow, memories take flight, a morning dove...

Cinnamon-kissed balsam and...

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During the second century, there were many Christians who were tortured and put to death for being Christian. There was one named Sanctus* who, when tortured, simply answered, "I am a Christian."  By my...

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I did not learn to drive until my twenties.
My two poor kids I hauled inside a wagon!
That wagon creaked when filled with groceries!
Fed up, I said, “My kids I won’t be draggin’!” 

I got my...

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March 8th - International Women's Day The World Over

Down to the wire, before this
calendrical occasion doth expire,
though arbitrary twenty four hour
time set aside for guide
ding hand of the supposed/purported
fairer gender, yet human race, yet hide
bound...

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It was a simple task, sweep the floors and keep the fire going
whatever his master was brewing the flame must not go out
Tittle thought himself adequate and most confident
out he went into the woods to...

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