Long Influential Poems

The Song of Amergin: Modern English Translations

The Song of Amergin
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

I am the sea breeze
I am the ocean wave
I am the surf's thunder
I am the stag of the seven tines
I am...

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Note:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Bysshe_Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley,  Born 4 August 1792
Horsham, Sussex, England[1]
Died , 8 July 1822 (aged 29)
Gulf of La Spezia, Kingdom of Sardinia (now Italy)
Occupation	Poet, dramatist, essayist, novelist
Alma mater	University College, Oxford (no degree)
Literary movement	Romanticism
Spouse	Harriet Westbrook
(m. 1811;...

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"It is known that the Bible, in its hundreds of different translations, is the most widely distributed book in human history. The bible has been enormously influential, and not only among the religious communities that...

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I grew up and out on a four family-owned,
and cooperatively-organized,
extended matriarchal farm.

Four interdependent 1940s through 1970s patriarchally managed businesses,
without substantial questions about who should wear pants,
yet with a surprising matriarchal cooperative understory.

The boxers outnumbered the...

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So it was that the night transcended peacefully over my head
Taking me through thick clouds,landing me upon parched land
Spilling  tranquil moments into daylight complexity.
So it was that I found myself among a crowd of...

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I killed my friend,
I never wanted,
Do not see me cruel,
I did it for love.
We both ran naked
Under this influential shower.
No one uncoupled his lips
Against this faint madness,
We were indebted,
Either had to earn the prize.


It was...

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As I watched my daughter playing with her son, I couldn't help but see myself in her. I still think of her as a child, but I guess parents always see their grown children as...

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INSPIRED BY CHARACTER OF CLARISSA DALLAOWAY IN VIRGINIA WOOLFE'S STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS NOVEL "MRS. DALLAOWAY"



                    ...

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You know when you are growing up

The stages you go through

Make you the way you are

They help to make you...YOU

The people who you deal with

Whether family or your friends

Are very influential

And they're with you 'till...

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Abandoned as a child believed to be no more than five, the matron of the orphans home, was...other than my mom...
The first to have to face the task of tending to my welfare, and started...

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five decades of experience and vast global knowledge
he met and lay with all kind of ladies.
Intellectuals
Blondie
Women that sparks extreme desire
Some whose names he couldn't pronounce
Even those with no clue as to why God make a...

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Unquotable quotes: Philosophers – XXII

Take Socrates: the insignia of a true philosopher is the bald pate and the luxuriant beard – the very reason why women make for such pathetic philosophers.
The bald pate facilitates the...

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Ever wonder where big ideas come from?

Memories of FDR
from newsreel clips -
a lion-headed striking man
with rakish grin,
jaw jutting proudly, 
signature cigarette holder
clenched in his teeth
tilted ever upward...
soaring to the heavens
as he cruises by
waving to admirers
in...

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RHYME SCHEME abcb

Thick mist / sharp rocks cut
Dense rain / strong wind whips
Vast drought / weak build folds
Trade boon / graft wrecks ships

RHYME SCHEME aaba

Thick mist / sharp rock strips
Dense rain / strong wind whips
Vast...

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David Jones, the best rat catcher Shropshire has ever had
must take some criticism for young Molly turning bad.
Even though his daughter found rich co-incidentals,
no credit could be taken by rat catching Dad's credentials.

At nineteen she's...

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Growth should be the ultimate criterion,
nucleus and kernel of every annual pledge,
for myself and other people who might gain,
from a heartfelt commitment such as mine,
that monumental new year down the clock aptly named,
global village stepping...

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When I was a ginger eight
my many cousins and I liked to play
King On The Mountain,
or at least the older and stronger
enjoyed being on top of a grassy mound
as lesser beings formed military alliances
further magnifying...

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Der Abschied (“The Parting”)
by Bertolt Brecht
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

We embrace;
my fingers trace
rich cloth
while yours encounter only moth-
eaten fabric.
A quick hug:
you were invited to the gay soiree
while the minions of the "law" relentlessly pursue...

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God

touch the flame God is a consuming fire let me explain
a radiant night couples run to the pier for a chance to splash but then
frozen from deep within there is a resistance to pull back...

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Belle of the Balls
                               ...

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There once was a west ham 
Went to Hollywood with a plan 
Thackray was her name 
She loved the American cheese game 
Everything seemed fine 
Sorority House filled with cheap wine 
Doing the nickel and...

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Outside the gladiator's window, outside in the growing gloom of night,

The nearby volcano is almost invisible, only smolders silently now.

Inside his room, he can almost tangibly feel the darkness gathering about him,

Can almost tangibly feel...

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I believe you believed you had the most to offer
better looking bigger brain value in the coffers
based on intellect getting all that it wants to 
lying manipulation didn’t disappoint you
making you lazy, weak and weed...

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Have anyone of  you also received a random telephone call
from Shanghai China, not in English but in the Chinese language?

I did today but I did not understand the importance of that phone 
call that...

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A Meandering Cocophony of Thought that Evades Fate

Contractual obligations toward your future self
Non-Factual invocations that deprive you of your health 
Actual comparisons between poverty and wealth 
Emmanuel on the eve of a heavenly operation of...

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