Long Flagons Poems

MIRZA GHALIB ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS

Urdu poems about speech, wine, Paradise, poets, poetry, words and grief. 

To hear my rose-bestrewing speech,
first place the flagon before me!
—Mirza Ghalib, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Let someone too obedient for...

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... And be one eye , one soul 
as the world recedes , gone ,
away far climbs. Vanished like a 
driven cloud.
		He is merely flesh and blood Reality ;
slaughterhouse stumbling through script
	typed in selfless pursuit.
Wanting...

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Then I Opened That Door…

To The Question: “How was your Day?” came this response…

The other day I arrived at work and found my chair was gone.  Oh the Horrors!
No way to rest at my...

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A single golden maple leaf rose on the wind twisting reflected sunlit flickers from her polished upper side, dancing in 
wind flung ecstasy of autumnal flight. Rising to disappear over the rooftop to wherever gusts...

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Happy May Day, all you PS boys and girls...EVOE!

Squeeze a cherry and let it sit,
And don't forget to take out the pit.
Let it ferment,
At least a day as a rule,
To give it some zing
And a...

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Revisionist lies sold as materialistic truth
American tagged merchandise
voter bazaar discount barter
Stars and Stripes twenty-one gun salute
Intellectual dishonesty ... shifting core values
Leave compassion at the border,
separate the parents 
from their sons and daughters
Patriotic homilies be the...

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(THE TAKANINI VERSION)

Glazes eyes affixed to life’s heavy hinged seal,
waiting for 11am to be served his liquid meal.
Empty flagons he carries with a shaky mournful hurt,
red nose prominent, pant’s half-mask, torn shirt!

Once inside he alleges...

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ON TURNING FIFTY

As my cousin turned fifty there was talk of AARP.

Two years behind Danny, I ask the million dollar question:

“What is AARP?” – “Oh you’ll find out,” my uncle laughs.

~

Fifty is the turning point...

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Ask you men do ye yet ken still acting in the right?
Of better days and other ways
We faced each day and night
Whispered secrets of delight enchanted dreams of youth
Wisps of withered warps of worth
Without the...

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A darkened world of dank false dreams, 
painted with whiskey to mask my screams, 

I'll blame the sun, the moon, the sky, 
I'll blame the well wishing passers by, 

I'll hide down deep in the...

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Carry to the king full flagons of wine,
this is your handmaiden’s duty mercy divine
Free-flowing ambrosia nectar fruit
mixed with stolen, silk tears of satin soft slavery
Pear-shaped heartache plucked,
a yearning branch uprooted from the bloodline tree
Comely cupbearer...

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Our summer crops are in and larders full
So we are now well stocked for winter’s worst
When we will face freezing Arctic attacks.
Our stock contains dried fruits, roots and nuts
Along with several sacks of grain to...

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She had the fixation of their closeness
Ubnormally,her heart flapping from left to right 
That night her table full of flagons
And every love film she saw was a hokum to her

Her thoughts flipped for a not...

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though rather late, I woke up
i might have thought I wasted time in nodding
but what a wonderful dream I had

the hoary woods crew
danced on my eyelids
sourced balsam scent and poppies
the floaters
fresh and cruel motivators

i limp...

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You'll see the truth 
when it comes in on the breeze
      Caught in the 
moving winds of time
      Old realities 
  pass us by...

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