Long Lighthearted Poems

I've been watching the people across the street for about a year now. We wave at each other every once in a while, not really much more than seeing a familiar face without a name....

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Last Night 
by Faiz Ahmed Faiz
translation by Michael R. Burch

Last night, your memory stole into my heart
as spring sweeps uninvited through barren gardens
as morning breezes revive dormant deserts
as a patient suddenly feels better for no...

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Inevitable death defines afterlife - deux

Flinty stones figuratively rolling inside
whooping out that primal 
binaural beat of your drum
ma mind haphazardly 
ricocheting axon to neuron
inducing inxs of chaos 
wreaking entropy beheld 
by beauty and the beast
enveloping...

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Sometime, I want to spend some time
Listening to the love that has always been mine,
Love, written in the eyes – of a mother, 
Her heart is so kind – oh, my, she is so kind!

Sometime,...

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Dour gray granite monolith,
the tower rises, stark, against the velutinous grenadine
of the dusk filled evening sky.
As the god of night draws his opaque cloak
across the world in his eternal battle
against the god of light.
Ever vigilant,...

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I'm ashamed to say I was a grumpy pessimist, as some events soured me,
Just as some cherries stay sour, although lingering long on the cherry tree.

Although grumpy, I was rather happy, and I'd worked hard...

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SAPPHO TRANSLATIONS

Eros harrows my heart:
wild winds whipping desolate mountains,
uprooting oaks.
—Sappho, fragment 42, translation by Michael R. Burch



Sappho, fragment 113
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

No droning bee,
nor even the bearer of honey
for me!



Sappho, fragment 113
loose translation/interpretation...

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I'm walking out into the gorgeous summer day
and I feel nothing at all;
not the warmth of the sun,
the melodies of songbirds,
nor the cars driving by my street
who haven't the slightest clue of what just transpired
a...

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God, the children are dressed as wizards and their parents as witches,
A spirit of lighthearted harmony marks our steps as we walk,
And sinister ghouls and goblins are the subject of jovial talk,
And that is a...

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Am I the only one to think
that a kite is such a sad thing?

Flimsy...frail...
never really free,
forever tied to a string

Yes, it can soar indeed,
so high, with the wind taking it places,
almost making it forget,
just enjoying...

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“My beloved Knight, my Knight of the Word
I am but no more than a futile peasant to be left unheard
I fear my existence has only to cause more trouble than of help
To seek borrowed time...

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Little Fanny McFluff was of eight years and so very bright
She’d take a book and flashlight and read through the night
She would awaken when the sun kissed her high on the brow
And smile for her...

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"Final Edition"     Posted 12 Sep 2021

With deep gratitude to all of who visited and commented over these 12 months of Monoku Mondays, I am hereby retiring this series. Keep laughing and...

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Translations of Urdu couplets and poems by Momin Khan Momin

Perhaps
by Momin Khan Momin
loose translation by Michael R. Burch
 
The cohesiveness between us, you may remember, or perhaps not.
Our solemn oaths of faithfulness, you may remember,...

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Rhyming Doubles On My Muse's Stern Command

He who Lives, to green woods explore
and bathe in glowing moonlit streams
shall find his Love, begging for more
than pale ghosts in late midnight dreams!

She who his hot passion bestirs
in...

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FREE YOURSELF


In the stillness of the night,
when your eyes are closed tight
and the only noise you can hear
is your heart beating softly in your ears.

Empty your mind and picture a butterfly.
A butterfly that is free,...

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Funny Story and unfortunately true. When I was in Prison at Pelican Bay State prison in Crescent City, Ca., one of the ways I made money or "cantene"  as it was called was poetry...

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That night old Henry rose up off his bench;
Evening's light growing dimmer as the sun set in the west,
Throwing stabs of light on the old village common -
Masked strangers on the pavement mocking the night.

Lighthearted...

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You Are Not Invited

--Latching onto my soul without an invitation--
Elements around my shore expose more than air
--Playing with fire is not a game you will win--

----
Silently she swarms in like a leech, 
Feeding and sucking...

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Let me tell you a story…
A story about life, where Solitude gracefully glides into the room, wearing a loose fitting gown, draping her curvaceous form. Piously she takes her place at the table of life,...

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VIDEO/AUDIO now on YouTube

Whatever Weekend

Being humble common pathways ere,
I ought traveled nearby that lea,
Past the margin of my home there,
Where the daffodils fickle sprightly,

As I shared the natural trail lead,
General impressions befall o'er sunlit,
E'er lighthearted...

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Drowning

What is it about falling in love
that makes us an emotional mess?
Even those as innocent as a dove
are too often put to the test.

I was one who took that leap
and made real the fantasy I...

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"I saw forever in my never,
And I stood outside her 
Heaven..." My Never-Blue October 

Would you give me that endearing look,
That one with glimmer in your eyes,
And the slightly puckered lips?
The involuntary dreaminess permeating from...

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How many times in life is discovering the beauty…the grandeur…the sublime
just a matter of being in the right place at exactly the right time?

Take today for instance…in all the years we’ve been walking on this...

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