Long Illume Poems

These are peace poems, prayer poems, hymns and lullabies I have written for family, friends and the world over the years ...

Peace Prayer
by Michael R. Burch

for Jim Dunlap

Be calm.
Be still.
Be silent, content.

Be one with the...

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Now in my decline from a time back then
  I remember the days in a life when I was ten,
when we lived in a shadow much greater
  at the foot of the mount...

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And I disappeared back into the books,
Whirling in a seamless stream of context,
By whose scarlet blood I assumed some looks,
Forevermore ready for what was next.

From this moment on I could not assume,
That what I had...

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The August Sage recounts, 

For the 17 past lives I have been a Scholar Official, I was neither imperious nor inhumane. I saved the distressed, aided the desperate, succored the orphaned and borne insolence with...

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“Float to me” 


Changing directions
in a forestalled motion,
balanced on the side of truth while practicing losing my step
in the rushing waters of life…
I slip

Clinging to a lone branch
I find it blocking the sky, pulling shadows...

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Let the truth be told and the Scriptures proclaimed,
because there is more to be seen than meets the eye.

Clouds are said to be the dust of the Lord's feet.*
But there are more down to earth...

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The many winters I had seen
When  once I was a teen
Gathered inside our small living room
Joy and simplicity our faces illume
Warm with laughter at striking stories
Light is the heart and empty of worries
My sisters...

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they met, once upon a time-
her silky hand melds with his
for but a moment 
an exchanged glance, fleeting
chocolate brown orbs
swimming in pools of milk
ebony hair dancing across her 
backless gown as she walks away
walked away…

swirling...

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The following is my poetic/liturgical translation of the Heart Sutra:

The Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara,
Whilst in profound Prajna Paramita 
Saw illume the void of the five skandhas 
And prevailed over all pain and peril.

Sariputta, image and void differ...

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Upon Misty Morning's Fast Fading Glow

Upon misty morning's fast fading glow, 
dance fairies on glittering silver wings. 
Flying with fantasies flowing in tow 
And sweetest joy such dancing often brings.

Above their heads the rising sun...

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Upon misty morning's fast fading glow,
dance fairies on glittering silver wings.
Flying with fantasies flowing in tow
And sweetest joy such dancing often brings.

Above their heads the rising sun awaits,
its morning sun's time for shining anew.
If fairies...

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Our Midnight The Unseen Within
        ( Collaboration )

Silent unto our sense, yet musical
With eternal harmony, they move
About our darkened vision, the beautiful ones,
Angels of destiny.

Pale with the dawn,...

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Little piggies in a hurry,
gotta run and catch that muddy dollar
As me rat race cheese-off,
peddling asphalt fumes of a 401k Harley

Punch-the-clock tired worker bees
drone alone in a homely cubicle
Fraidy kitty cats don’t snatch the keys,
‘cause...

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Silent unto our sense, yet musical
With eternal harmony, they move
About our darkened vision, the beautiful ones,
Angels of destiny.

Pale with the dawn, sun-golden with the noontide,
They mingle with our moments;
There is no sadness that they do...

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Colour intermingled
in the spectator’s eye
divisions juxtapose
 ‘as is’ moment ..dot.. by dot..
frozen forever
as a ‘still-life’ shot
Colours in contrast
 one next
to another
patiently painted
dab by dab
Planes into particles
pigments of paint
in patches react
divisionist,
 pointillist    juxtapose
into our eye colour flows.
Meticulous,mechanical
the illusion
into shape
palettes of the fleeting
made permanent

Pointillist People
louis hayet
 alfred finch&
verhaeren

  .. then

 georges lemmen
angrand henri cross
van de velde &
albert dubois-pillet
& lets
  not forget

camille&lucien
father&son pissarro

you may know

maximillan luce
jan toorup&
van rysselberghe

& you'll already heard

of
 signac &seurat

stand so tall

 pointillistas*

              one&all


Colours in contrast
 one next
to another,
patiently painted
dab by dab.
Cyan, magenta
yellow and key
 illume the picture we see.
 Planes into
particles,pigments of paint
in patches react
divisionist pointillist
 juxtapose
into our eye 
  distinct colour flows
Meticulous mechanical
eye into mind defined
the illusion into shape.
In palettes of
permanance
the fleeting flies
sans such subtraction
luminosity lives 
Seurat, and Signac’s  
    legacy survives

...

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Love is her Belief and her Commandment
by Michael R. Burch

for Beth

Love is her belief and her commandment;
in restless dreams at night, she dreams of Love;
and Love is her desire and her purpose;
and everywhere she goes,...

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The mist in Regent Gardens air
awakes a single rosebud there.
Her scent drifts past Trafalgar Square -
England’s summer has begun.

The rising sun above the Thames
shines brighter than a crown of gems;
peeks through the panes of Buckingham
until...

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***I am reposting this poem as I think it is my finest poetic creation.  I feel the imagery of the piece and its 'fabled' characters are cohesive to create a positive environment that reflects...

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The witch awaits her chance to ride her broom
On Hallow’s Eve she does so love to zoom
Dressed in her black cape and stunning costume 
Her cat on the back they fly o’er the moon.

Witch prepares...

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The manifold states of woe, the hells, ghosts realms and
Beastly domains, the suffering of birth, old age, illness, and
Death shall all recede. Heeding purity and truth, heeding the
Vast body of wisdom, heeding benevolence and compassion,...

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flashes of light
                      fanciful
          ...

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The friend who gonna while sheer
          In friendly, airy blast always  . . . 
          The...

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STORM ELECTRIC

Over there
in the hills
There’s a flash 
Giving birth
To a sound 
Like a pulse 
In the veins
of the Earth

Echoing
From the crags
As a drum 
Beat ahead
The condemned 
On his walk
On the morn 
He would dread

Then the...

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By: Sashi.Prabhu(Zeauoxian)
13/07/12 redrafted on 28/07/2012
At times the person within me feels all alone,
the nomad within me I try to keep happy and joys within full blown.

Far away from a place called home,
With purpose and goals...

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In a field of golden sunflowers, 
Their faces turned towards the sun's warm embrace, 
A great white shark glides through the azure depths, 
Silent predator with a fearsome face. 
 
A whip-poor-will calls out in...

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