Long Griefs Poems

Epigrams

Autumn Conundrum
by Michael R. Burch

It’s not that every leaf must finally fall,
it’s just that we can never catch them all.

Piercing the Shell
by Michael R. Burch

If we strip away all the accouterments of war,
perhaps we'll discover...

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I Know The Truth
by Marina Tsvetaeva
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

I know the truth?abandon lesser truths!
There's no need for anyone living to struggle!
See? Evening falls, night quickly descends!
So why the useless disputes?generals, poets, lovers?

The wind...

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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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Medieval Poems



Deor's Lament (Anglo Saxon poem, circa 10th century AD)
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Weland knew the agony of exile.
That indomitable smith was wracked by grief.
He endured countless troubles:
sorrows were his only companions
in his frozen...

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With my Uyghur poetry translations I am trying to build awareness of the plight of Uyghur poets who are being sent to Chinese "reeducation" concentration camps.

Elegy
by Perhat Tursun
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Asylum seekers, will...

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The Field
by Rumi 
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Far beyond sermons of right and wrong there's a sunlit field. 
I'll meet you there. 
When the soul lazes in such lush grass 
the world is too...

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Birdsong
by Rumi
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Birdsong relieves
my deepest griefs:
now I'm just as ecstatic as they,
but with nothing to say!
Please universe,
rehearse
your poetry
through me!



I choose to love you in silence
by Rumi
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

I...

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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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Noise ,Noise, Noise
Bickering and ''whoremongering''
Dirty money for campaigning
repudiation and gallivanting
mudslinging and maligning
Brainwashing and false promises

How did you get on this bloodstained road 
Who advice you to  follow Uncle Pan's  path
A path that is...

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Money
and Manna
both root back to Maneh
of deep and weighty Babylonian coinage.

Maneh transcends spiritual/natural divides
to nurture nutrition's co-present values,
dew-fall grace from Earth's diamond curious treasures
tribal communions inspired with physical bread

And yet also 
more deductive
reductive Win/Lose seductive...

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When we met, I surely knew the yearning
Breathlessness erasing my weariness
Feelings, dreams, soothing every discerning
You silence doubts, discourage dreariness
Deep inside, I long for your spirit’s smile
I feel so thankful for this song of grace
Past all...

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Are My Words So Foreign Or Obtuse 
That You May Not, Within Them, See Truth? 
That We Live Together Within, 
While Without We Share, What May One Day, 
Become A Common View; 
A Mutual Love...

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Smoke
by Michael R. Burch

The hazy, smoke-filled skies of summer I remember well;
farewell was on my mind, and the thoughts that I can't tell
rang bells within (the din was in) my mind, and I can't say
if...

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Summer Haze
by Michael R. Burch

The hazy, smoke-filled skies of summer I remember well;
farewell was on my mind, and the thoughts that I can't tell
rang bells within (the din was in) my mind, and I can't...

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Grief is so unimaginable painful it cant be explained,
To lose someone you love so much is unfeigned,
Once grief comes knocking at your front door, 
Entering your life, It doesn't plan to stay as a guest
In...

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?? A Living Dead I'm ??


©?Abdul Qudus Olamilekan Yisa.

---------------------------------------------------------------


Like an appearance of a full moon's fall,

the light of her love illuminated my heart,

in the presence of no light, which was once nightfall.

and like a grumble...

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(Lemuria: A hypothetical "lost land" variously located in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.)
***********************************

The Tale Of Lemuria, Master Poe, Pen And I

Its birth a shake of Neptune's golden trident
Its glow a diamond glitter on the moon
As...

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all my deepest thoughts, all my inward reflections 
                         surround the...

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Mirror
by Kajal Ahmad, a Kurdish poet
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

My era's obscuring mirror
shattered
because it magnified the small
and made the great seem insignificant.
Dictators and monsters filled its contours.
Now when I breathe
its jagged shards pierce my...

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' The  Survival  of  The Fittest '
 (The Holy Bible)


(2 Tim. 3: 16, 17/ Matt. 4: 4)


Down Thru The Ages of Our Histories
The Survivor Stands Thru Time, Victoriously
The Survivor Stands Triumphant Over...

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The rage builds from within, and the rain follows.

A celebration, for one friend, of a new age, a new day - 
from whence the trouble came, I'm all too afraid I know.
Despite what some of...

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Images
have integrity
and/or negative trending decomposition.

If ecosystems
have naturally bleak unkindness
of Lose/Lose economies
then matriarchal birthing systems
have spiritual kindness;
both colder-darker dissonance
and warmer WinWin confluence.

Creative images
are more synonymous with regeneration
revival
resilience
resonant compassion,
polypathic
polycultural outcome trends

And more or less antonyms,
autonomously disassociated from,
not...

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There is a music that weeps comfort,
Through the distance, in quiet moments,
Healing and blessing, reminding that His gentle grace
Will flow from the heavens, embracing,
Surrounding hearts with a lasting light – the source
Of love, His love…

There...

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Psalms 40:3 (KJV) “And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.”

In my soul, lives a night
Constantly...

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In Asgard, kingdom of the mighty God Odin
A place awaits all battle fallen warrior heroes
It's in Valhalla where there is endless feasting
And an ending of all griefs and sorrows

The Valkyries, Odin's warrior daughters
Carry the fallen...

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