Long Hewed Poems

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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The Castle On White Otter Lake

That rustic, old log castle
Stands facing the lake.
Built by hand, by one man
To acknowledge his presence,
In a changing world, he felt
He could not participate in.
And so chose to live like...

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His is the whispering voice echoing within the athlete’s field of dreams,
The harkening leader, a teacher of strength and confidence, whom takes
The raw abilities given unto an individual then molds it, shapes it until
This natural...

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which prime mate affectionately called buttock blaster
alimentary explosion ofttimes causes global disaster
upon such gaseous debacle run for your life ever faster!

Yours truly (humorously dry husband)
can definitively attest,
she (thee missus) nixed, ordained,
inured, espoused blessed
discrete frolicsome liaisons...

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Metaphorical troubled waters deluge
pitched me to and fro,
analogous to ghosts
that haunted Ebenezer Scrooge,
yours truly violently tossed
impossible mission to experience refuge

except when deeply engrossed
between bound pages
thick and juicy tome one garden variety
generic bookworm doth ravish
escape courtesy...

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MICHELANGELO TRANSLATIONS

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (1475-1564) was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect and poet. He and his fellow Florentine, Leonardo da Vinci, were rivals for the title of the archetypal Renaissance man. Michelangelo is...

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Variations multicolored adaptations shimmering in the waters
Of hewed blue, beauties in the depths light show, yet these
Aquatic butterfly’s sting requires distances persuasion.
Deadly eloquence with a venomous tentacle embrace,
But in graceful opulence’s to perfections beguiling eyes,
None...

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Pray,
If you should tell
All that you have bottled up
Who will you tell?
Who will believe you?
Stories of swollen head, slit lips
Blood, brimstone and bonfires 
Laboriously ignited to silence
Rats, rabbits, dogs, roaches and mosquitoes 
Stories of brazen...

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Widsith the Far-Traveler, Part II
ancient Anglo-Saxon poem
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Hrothulf and Hrothgar, uncle and nephew,
for a long time kept a careful peace together
after they had driven away the Vikings' kinsmen,
vanquished Ingeld's spear-hordes,
and hewed...

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The old ruin sat near the brow of the hill
it had been there for centuries forgotten
none now knew for what purpose it had been used
not even the elders who had many suggestions

A not unattractive looking...

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Ignominy hewed into comeuppance, 
where yours truly aggrieved state 
far worse fate  
than becoming deceased, though 
years gone by since meek kin 
grievously afflicted soundly did berate
  
deplorable marital indiscretion 
this mister (wordsmith)...

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The ammunition greased casings pepper skull and cross lovely bones, 
   lightening speedily deals mortal blow persons unaware,
   the final minutes/seconds of lives leased
shorn of existence, and akin to sheared sheep,...

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Harsh winds blow from a baron frozen land,
Of ice and snow.
Exhaling Nordic gods breath a chilling mist
An eerie foggy vapor creeping along the
 Waters aquatic edge.
Rages angry seas lap against the wooden
Hauls as battle harden...

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...

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MUSTANGS

The ground shudders, and shakes,
 Under pounding hooves.
 Echoing against canyon walls.
Fast and furious wild hearts beat,
Keeping equal pace, with the prairies,
 Wide divide.
From within hell's fiery furnace,
Tempered muscle drives motions sinew.
Behold evolution's die hard...

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Assailed upon all sides; trapped, like a rat without his cheese.
Though I wore quite fancy shoes, there were no socks upon my feet,
When I fought the heathens and, met defeat, at the Pillar Of Muhamete.
Through...

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A RECALL
On that vale of thorn
Abreast we ambled.
Un-frazzled, to the hawthorn
We held.
Though a twinge we felt the 
Haw we sought, and heyday we
Dreamed of.
Out of vague future luminous dreams
We hewed.
Though nadir soared, and hope in...

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Take your halcyon moment, have your blissful jaunt
Explore the northern hills and rivers, their helix flaunts
From zigzag paths of the south, from verdant plains of the north
Passing by the west coasts, ascend to their conjuring...

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Each of us = our own worst enemy

Hyperbole escorted ushered down aisle,
no critic within google x bajillion mile
(give or take a million) approximates
limitless potential regarding self said
epithet vile expletive spewing wicked

vituperation, vilification, vexation,
vandalization, undervaluation, uglification,
transmogrification,...

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I sit quietly, while I belittle a storm
That’s been brewing for some time. 
It crashes in a drunken rage,
And mellows out into the softening wind 
That is the next day. 
Shortly hereafter
It begins anew. 
A...

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I've come to want for morning leisure
where once the night knew not my haste
now feed my measure of quiet pleasure
trading sleep for tranquilities taste

Tis when I ponder of past and present
an editors choice of will
to...

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In chambers veiled with smoke and lies,
Where whispered deals and shadows rise,
A silken web, by power spun,
Entangles truth beneath the sun.

The gilded cage of empty laws,
Where justice sleeps, its teeth of gauze,
A puppet show, with...

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The mountains rise like white haired ancient gods.
The wolves howl their age old forgotten runes.
In the blue sky birds perform their glissades
As they fill the air with their joyful tunes.
There are desolate, untrodden valleys,
Where the...

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The Fountain of Living Waters flows, 
Ready to quench our thirst, 
Why do ye hew out broken cisterns? 
Broken cisterns that burst;

Drink from the Fount and be satisfied, 
It will become a well, 
Water springing...

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Ever since Mr. Dutile asked us to sandwich our desks together, I haven't 
been able to sleep or eat.  My mom made her famous crisp lasagna the   
other night but I didn't...

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