Long Han Poems

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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Neither a fable, 
Nor a tale, 
This is a fact,
A story to tell,
To everyone, female and male.
To generations, younger and frail.

About a threat, a monster from the East,
That struck the world like a beast,
Attacked Europe...

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These are modern English translations of Chinese poems of The Shijing or Shi Jing ("Book of Songs" or "Book of Odes")

Shijing Ode #4: “JIU MU”
ancient Chinese rhyming poem (c. 1200-600 BC)
loose translation by Michael R....

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As promised to Sara Baker... here is the Night Before Christmas, 
Cajun style ~ by James Rice
                  ...

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The sand is stained red
with our bygone blood,
the blood that brought us from Ararat to the Alti,
a tribe trekking intrepidly through the Eurasian terrain,
caravans of Caucasians clad with Celtic tartan twills
plaids upon the pale horse...

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Ch8, cont.

Northward parallel the valley.
And their ridge-top elevation 
Gave advantage of perspective 
They could see the forest's ending
 
In the distance. That same evening 
Would reveal a stronger reason 
For Ipiki's intervention
Something sensed in his...

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After two more hours of watching 
When the night was at its deepest 
Han roused Kwona for her vigil
Till the first light of the morning 

But a mood of laughter took them
By some magic of...

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Odyssey from Africa 14g

“This research by young Alinda
Tells us something most important 
For we find upon our beaches
Plants that are entirely different 

“From the flora on our island 
Or from the adjacent mainland 
This can...

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Odyssey from Africa 15c (Southland, continued...)

Being rich in skill and talent
He soon gained the feel and measure 
Of the boomerang’s employment 
Sent it arching near the treetops 
 
Then returning where it started
As the king...

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Chapter 14d (King Ptolemy the second, cont.)

https://www.amazon.com/Odyssey-Africa-adventures-Phil-Salmon/dp/197392479X


“And upon the open ocean
Far from land in roving sail-ships
How to find the congregations 
Of the sharks and rays and tuna

“Where the seabirds thresh the water
Diving after shoals of...

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Ms Agnes finally presented herself in front of me and ordered me to stand. I remember 
feeling small as I looked up into Ms Agnes' face, looking into eyes covered with an opaque 
blue film....

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CHAPTER 8 Two Paths
 
North they travelled through the jungle 
Aiming to escape from forest
Seeking an itinerary 
Near the coast in open country 
 
So they climbed a wooded hilltop;
Han attained the top-most branches
Of a mighty towering ironwood
To survey the...

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Odyssey from Africa, Chapter 12 The Fireflower (continued, b)

Finally a tired Ipiki
Flew back to his owner Matto
Hanging from his fern-frond necklace 
Starting late his daytime sleeping 
 
Matto went into the mansion 
Back into their...

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Chapter 11g 

Han and Kwona and their children 
Made their courteous introductions
Then were guided to their quarters
Where they soundly slept till sunrise 
 

Chapter 12a The Fireflower 
 
In the morning light they wakened
Now they saw with daytime clearness
The luxurious...

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16b Stargazing 

Here they filed into a hallway
Into almost total darkness
Just a pair of flick’ring candles
Led them to an inner circle
 
At its center was a platform 
Where a single chair was mounted 
At an...

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CHAPTER 3c continued 


Till he happened to encounter 
A much stronger river hunter
Hideous Jurassic lizard
Pulled him down with no returning
 
Other crocodiles converging
Made straight lines like silver arrows
Churned and twisted in the water
Then the other three turned...

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Odyssey from Africa 14f

This colossal ratite was the
Largest bird on all the planet
It would live on Madagascar 
Till the time of William Shakespeare

“Let me tell you” said the monarch 
Quietly pleased at Han’s reaction 
“What...

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King Ptolemy the Second (cont.)

Sleek of line for speedy sailing 
It was rugged in construction 
Several layers of well cured timber
Lined the hull and bridge and gunwales 
 
There were four great masts with mainsails
Han...

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Odyssey from Africa, Chapter 11 (d) cont...

Thus the boarding of the parties 
Was a speedy operation 
Very soon the whole flotilla
Sailed toward the open ocean

This wide bay from which the ships set
Sail is called the...

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CHAPTER 4 The Eagle (continued)

Swinging up it glanced the raptor
Merely brushing through its wing-plumes
But the eagle lost its balance 
And released its hold on Rosy
 
Who then plummeted in freefall
But the bird regained its rhythm 
And hard turning...

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Chapter 14b (King Ptolemy the Second)

With a travel bag to carry
Their belongings and essentials
And they rode by wheel-borne carriage 
On the road down to the harbour 
 
There they stepped aboard the vessel
That would take...

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Chapter 11 The Island Kingdom (f, continued...)

Near the north-most cape they passed, there
Lay the kingdom’s foremost city
By the name of Cannabarro
Here was found the royal palace

Of Ptolemy the Second.
In our time this city has the...

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CHAPTER 9c

Swift a sand shark spiraled nearer
Baring teeth it eyed them coldly
Han spun full about and kicked it
In the center of its body
 
But at this the sand shark merely 
Shrugged and moved off several...

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Odyssey from Africa 15b (Southland)

“Like an antelope in stature 
Yet they hopped along like sparrows!
On big hind limbs like a rabbit’s
With a rat-like tail behind them
 
“At the sight of such strange wonders
I was wakened...

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But the mood of celebration
Lasted only for a short time 
Very few returned to thank them
Han and Matto found this puzzling 
 

Chapter 2 BLOOD MOON
 
Through the days and nights that followed 
Spread a...

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