Long Handmaiden 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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Veronica Franco translations

Veronica Franco (1546-1591) was a Venetian courtesan who wrote literary-quality poetry and prose.

Capitolo 19: A Courtesan's Love Lyric (I) 
by Veronica Franco
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

"I resolved to make a virtue of...

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Renee Vivien Translations


Song
by Renée Vivien
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

When the moon weeps,
illuminating flowers on the graves of the faithful,
my memories creep
back to you, wrapped in flightless wings.

It's getting late; soon we will sleep
(your eyes...

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A Thousand Points of Light! ! ! ! !

Once a beacon of democracy
A shining light on the hill
The ‘American Dream’
	Anyone can ‘make it’  
Never more than aspirational
Structurally delusional

Always susceptible to its 
	Achilles heel of...

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               In the glade of sallowed comparisons
           as told by the...

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Q:  Who are the modern day  people of Philistia mentioned in Psalm 83:7.

A:  They are located in the region currently mentioned as Gaza, the western
      bank. ...

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The Truth is the Gift of Gods Word
for it's understanding the habitation has stirred
softly upon spirit we listen to it's call
comprehension to it's voice like a seed is small

Can you understand the wise man's riddle
apprehend...

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Note: This is a long one. Just a warning before you start reading. : ) 


Outside the walls stood a handmaiden gazing
Twisting her skirt between fingers so frail
Patches of burlap were sewn on the garment
Cut...

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The World is a testing ground to burn out impurity, 
a forge of sorts, 
sorting out infermity. 
A Threshing floor 
of chaff and wheat. 
The bread of life consuming your choices as you eat. 
Of...

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The Truth is the Gift of Gods Word
for it's understanding the habitation has stirred
softly upon spirit we listen to it's call
comprehension to it's voice like a seed is small

Can you understand the wise man's riddle
apprehend...

Read More

Outside the walls stood a handmaiden gazing
Twisting her skirt between fingers so frail
Patches of burlap were sewn on the garment
Cut from a sack of a barley oat bale

Oh how she dreamed of the opulent palace
Silver...

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"I beg You, show me Your glory," Moses said
but God snuck past, back-turned, revealing not His glorious head
Moses didn't know they had to wait for God Incarnate, instead
for God's glory -- no mistaking!

“Glory to God...on...

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HANDMAIDEN OF MOON DANCING



fly me to stars in the thrill of one swan night
over a crescent arc to feel a flame of sighs,
teasing dreams so silent yet ever wild
and like a neon light, speak through...

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Alas! Just like poor Rapunzel, poor Princess Fauna was imprisoned in the highest wicked tower in her entire kingdom! Princess Fauna had long natural golden hair just as long and sturdy as Rapunzel's.  Rapunzel...

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Elan's word?
Zulu's sword?
Heartsichordiums-convulsive-verb
"Anabantium", O wraith of mord.

So is it, it is for Hilerides-Dales, 
which green-discourse, 
Southeast of Wales 
or some other perch 
of liaisoned Angeles-porch ? 
Is one-way with a steep of glades newly born....

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Les Bijoux (The Jewels)
by Charles Baudelaire
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

My lover nude and knowing my heart's whims
Wore nothing more than a few bright-flashing gems;
Her art was saving men despite their sins;
She ruled like harem...

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Hidden under crop circle
resembling an ampersand
hides sheathed silo - obscured,
said symbol adorned every armband
of national socialist, yet weapons

of mass destruction) bland
lee, blatantly ignored global pact
prepared from this once (bajillion
years ago) geologic bottomland
repurposed for a bomb...

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Trumpet & the Sickle 
The scrolls were opened
Only the Lamb of God, worthy
To open the scrolls of life, light
The death Angel protecting the gates
Only a locket filled with fine sachet
Crossed upon my heart, forehead
Saved by...

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She really was created by God 
to be like a Mother to us 
bunch of cosmic orphanings. 
A stage that cradles life expectantly, 
a light shining down like a spotlight. 
Our Mother beaming proud 
in...

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Wish You Were Here

The hay bales golden, crimsons and ochre sere leaves fallen-- the caw of the Jackdaw
There was no Nightmare until after the fall, painted and swooned like a Fuseli
the clouds float in staccato...

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Let me dip my quill into the Master’s colorful plan for you.
With golden ink, to erase the dark, He’ll make things new.
I hear music from Wisdom’s domain, where dreams revive.
Once I loved a man so...

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My entire world captured in a camera lens,
Each second saved in imperishable moments,
It's like each picture is Father Time's tribute to Mother Earth,
And I'm merely a humble handmaiden bringing them closer together,
I'm a photographer, an...

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Mother and Angel

What thoughts gather in your mind, Mary,
 Eyes looking down in the morning light?
Do you still hear the sound of an angel’s voice –
 Can you hear the sound of angel wings?

God’s light...

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You shake your mandrill fist angrily
towards the sky
Epithet accusations hurled at God

Unrighteous indignation
rest uncomfortably 
within your flat bosom

Testosterone milk
feeds your androgyny grief
You feel that your womanhood 
never grew properly ... 
enamel deficient of estrogen teeth

Born...

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The creators handmaiden on an ass,
In modern world would look so crass.
Her trusted guardian by her side,
From kings and connivers she had to hide.
For place to rest they tried their best,
Carrying forward God's chosen test.
Across...

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