Long Franks Poems

Medieval Poems IV



IN LIBRARIOS
by Thomas Campion
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Booksellers laud authors for novel editions
as pimps praise their whores for exotic positions.



Brut (circa 1100 AD, written by Layamon, an excerpt)
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R....

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Rejection
a roundel by Geoffrey Chaucer
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Your beauty from your heart has so erased
Pity, that it's useless to complain;
For Pride now holds your mercy by a chain.

I'm guiltless, yet my sentence has...

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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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I have travelled through the cluttered corridors of my tired mind countless times. 
I have reached deep into the dark abyss of my captive soul and in that profoundly disturbing darkness, I went searching to...

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Translations of the Oldest English Rhyming Poems

The Rhymed Poem aka The Rhyming Poem aka The Riming Poem
Old English/Anglo-Saxon poem from the Exeter Book, circa 990 AD
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

(excerpt)
He who granted me life...

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Rassaphrass’s husband LeRoy went out for garlic bread on a Tuesday.  She ate all the spaghetti and meatballs before he returned, to teach him a lesson, because he took too long.  He brought...

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PYPU what ya gonna do boyz
PYPU what ya gonna do boyz
PYPU what ya gonna do boyz
don't need to see your Fruit or your Looms
don't wanna see your buttocks in those..
Vincent Motega's don't wanna see your...

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Spoken (beginning): 
Yes, you have been 
There for me back then
Thanks…yeah man, oh well, thanks…
Would you like some beef franks?
Or a batch of cookies for what you’ve done?
If not, then don’t expect me…me…
To be someone...

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GROWING UP ACROSS THE STREET FROM 
TIGER STADIUM HAS ITS ADVANTAGE
AND DISADVANTAGES.
BEING A YOUNGSTER 
HOT HUMID MUGGY SUMMER NIGHT.
DETROIT MICHIGAN.
JULY NINETEEN HUNDRED AND 73
WOULD TURN OUT TO BE A VERY
COLD
NIGHT.
IN THE MOST UNTHINKABLE WAY.
RUNNING AROUND...

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Mighty oars to take us away from our shores
Our horsemen marshal their men at arms
The trek is long, battles of the blood-soaked 
Our swords we hold high
Above our heads, the cross guides us to righteousness
For...

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I STOLE FOOD TO SATISFY MY SOUL

I used to be poor;
Lonely dis-pared homeless;
Maturated, no one cares;
Haven't had any type of bath in twelve days;
And yes, I stole hungry and dirty;
I'm hungry and thirsty; 
I when...

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I STOLE FOOD TO SATISFY MY SOUL

I used to be poor;
Lonely dis-pared homeless;
Maturated, no one cares;
Haven't had any type of bath in twelve days;
And yes, I stole hungry and dirty;
I'm hungry and thirsty; 
I when...

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Her name was Janet, she was thirty-two,
and she hadn’t been in this town for years,
she’d gone to college here, back in those days,
but looking back at it now, it felt weird.

She had gotten word of...

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The race for this thing still goes on and you have to meet me before the break of dawn, somewhere beyond the clouds I envision an oracle coming out of the sea and the people...

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Frankly Speaking

There is a couple on the beach, they have a small room, been on the beach for years, suffered through the worst of it. They have been through every phase. The Hippie, the war...

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A nation's culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people.
Every aspect of Western culture needs a new code of ethics - a rational ethics - as a precondition of rebirth.
We are...

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Ah, the great American food mind!
Nobody else could ever make such a find...
The American "Red Hot", or HotDog..
A national tradition...
Superb in every edition....
But my son and I,
When to the movies we went,
Had a hotdog, and...

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The time had come, we were agreed
To discontinue paying rents.
We'd make our plans and then proceed
To buy or build a residence.

i said an older house I'd choose.
A little house and lot would do.
The first of...

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kelp seaworty here!
this is the seaworthy report!

 THEY WANTED SOMETHING DIFFERENT
THEY WANTED SOMETHING RIGHT
SOMETHING THAT COULD  TAKE THE STALNESS AWAY 
THEY GOT WHAT THEY WANTED
AND MAYBE A LITTLE MORE THAN THEY HAD ASKED.
THEY OPENED...

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I watched the magic as the puppets dance
Their fingers moved, I was in a trance
The puppets danced on little strings of wire
From lifeless forms upon the floor
To dancing puppets we adore
The magic as his fingers...

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(Bal-e-Jibril-151) Javed Iqbal Ke Naam:
(On receiving  first letter of Javed Iqbal(Late Son of Dr Allama Iqbal) in London)
https://youtu.be/jGv1lCDjHEk
Senior Justice Javed Iqbal (5 October 1924 – 3 October 2015) was a Pakistani philosopher and senior...

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As he came to the crossing the river was swollen out of its banks,
He wouldn’t be on the run right now if he hadn’t met ole Henry Franks.

All he wanted was a few supplies then...

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(Played to the tune, “When Sly Calls,”
by Michael Franks)

When Trump tweets,
Mo’ scowls furrow

When Trump tweets,
the scandals grow

As rumors shake,
idle sits the Boss
Bankrupt morality
is the grifter cost

When Trump tweets,
the rubles spin

When Trump tweets,
the dictators win

Decorum falls,
indecency...

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Today we do not honor hamburgers or franks
Today we offer thanks
For those who died or were maimed
To fight against evil or whatever it's named
To fight against ignorance, stupidity and vice
Or to be more precise
To fight...

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it was past midnight when werewolf stepped in,
through creaking door of derelict dungeon,
half moon lit the scraggy forest around,
amongst decapitated trees Owl’s sound!

foot prints guided his destination quest,
ground was soggy that slugs chose to infest,
he...

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