Long Lovelier Poems

Medieval Poems IV



IN LIBRARIOS
by Thomas Campion
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Booksellers laud authors for novel editions
as pimps praise their whores for exotic positions.



Brut (circa 1100 AD, written by Layamon, an excerpt)
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R....

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Come Down
by Michael R. Burch

for Harold Bloom

Come down, O, come down
from your high mountain tower.
How coldly the wind blows,
how late this chill hour ...

and I cannot wait
for a meteor shower
to show you the time
must be...

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What Good Are Our Tears?
by Michael R. Burch

What good are our tears?
They will not spare the dying their anguish.
What good is our concern
to a child sick of living, waiting to perish?

What good, the warm benevolence...

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Life is like that extent 
     Live that moment 
                   to full extent...

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It was the weekend, and I was sleeping late that day,
Alone with the morning, while savoring marvels of May.

As I drowsed luxuriantly, at the outskirts of dreams,
I heard a strange sound, while soaking in gay...

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Now as the years passed by everyone became so tired
the heaps of things scattered around became too much to bear
some benevolence was certainly grand but this was too much
the two felt unable to undertake ...

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I was a busy and active person, who loved to savor life.
I was also amiable and friendly, avoiding excess strife.

Like the glad golden sun, ever beaming blissful radiance,
Indeed drawing all others, with its cheerful brilliance.

My...

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Birdwatching had become for me, such pleasurable summertime hobby,
So I was often among the trees, young ones or those old and knobby. 

I chased rose finches at dawn, and the yellow warblers come noon,
Scarlet flycatchers...

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I was a prolific and enthusiastic artist, like a sparkling jewel rife with colors,
Taking joy from nature themes and others, as in childhood joys of summers.

I painted active people and wilder places, houses, sunsets and...

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I was a zealous fashion designer, whose elegant styles were ever in vogue,
Like the rainbow time of cool, damp evening, that elegant colors go rogue.

Lost in my work, I took it seriously, for creating something...

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Poems for Poets VIII


Fireflies
thinking to illuminate the darkness?
Poets!
—Michael R. Burch


BeMused
by Michael R. Burch

You will find in her hair
a fragrance more severe
than camphor.

You will find in her dress
no hint of a sweet
distractedness.

You will find in her...

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POEMS FOR POETS X

US Verse, after Auden
by Michael R. Burch

“Let the living creature lie,
Mortal, guilty, but to me
The entirely beautiful.”

Verse has small value in our Unisphere,
nor is it fit for windy revelation.
It cannot legislate less...

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I know you won't see this 
but I must say how I felt the last half of year or so.
I was a coward 
but for good reason
for I knew my love was a gross romanticization...

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Surrender to sleep at last! What a misery, keeping watch all night, wide awake. Soon you’ll succumb to sleep and escape all your troubles. Sleep. — Homer, translation by Michael R. Burch

Passage home? Impossible! Surely...

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Homer translations

Surrender to sleep at last! What an ordeal, keeping watch all night, wide awake. Soon you’ll succumb to sleep and escape all your troubles. Sleep. — Homer, translation by Michael R. Burch

Passage home? Impossible!...

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When you were born
On the first of July
I was so broken hearted
I wished I could die
'Cause I'd made the choice
To say goodbye
Such a sad sounding word
Still makes me cry

I stood hour after hour
In the hospital...

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Sometimes our attention will turn toward some of God's special creations that may cause our hearts to skip a beat or take one's breath away.  Such was the case with me when one of...

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Flowing downstream, over the well washed stones
The water carries the newly fallen leaves
Beautifully corroded in colors of yellow, red, and brown
Belonging to the stream and to the earthen bliss
The remnants of the mighty tree’s glorious...

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Johnny MacAlister was six-years-old, young enough still for wishes,
Baby sister, Rosie, was all of three, all giggling and adorable kisses.

With fond, indulgent parents, the family was content in their home,
In a town, sleepy in sunlit...

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Because She Craved the Very Best
by Michael R. Burch
 
Because she craved the very best,
he took her East, he took her West;
he took her where there were no wars
and brought her bright bouquets of stars,
the...

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Pray, I know, I feel it, I sense it
The intuition which is mightier than my wit
Tweets it to my mind
And I just trust it
As it holds the same power
As a walking stick would, to a...

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Old evening, Sun-set,
No more classrooms next , it’s a vacation till July be coming,
Inside sand  we played , making castles of clay,
Chit-chatting with the doodie, mapping to spend holidays.

Soon a beardy man, in a...

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"I come to the gar~den...alone...
While the dew is still...on the...roses.."
    ...did that rose just move???
"And the voice I hear...
.....WHAT was that???

~gulp~

"Whose there?
Now I know you're there
I don't easily scare
Jesus is here...well...at least...

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Is Nature adding to me
or taking away from me
Am I, or am I just 
a small part, a tiny part
of all the beauty that I see.

All is so magnificent
The fresh air that I breathe
And I...

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My poem is patterned after John Crowe Ransom's "Blue Girls." I suppose you could call it a parody. His poem appears below mine.


Styling in your leggings, wildly designed,
Strutting to classes in your modern schools— 
While...

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