Long Lowliest Poems

Patience
by Rabindranath Tagore
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

If you refuse to speak, I will fill my heart with your silence and endure it.
I will remain still and wait like the night through its starry vigil
with...

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Thiru-Valluvar on Praising the Good Qualiities of Ladies: Canto 112 - Nalam Pinainththu Uraiththal

[The poet devotes the third part of his treatise, the Thiruk-Kural to INBATHTHUPPAAL, the amorous relationship between the sexes, i.e.,  cantos...

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To a perfectly perfect stranger
met on a time on the river bank
I asked a simple question,
“How should I live my life 
and live life to the full?”
He smiled at me, His eyes dark, wise and...

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Preface preceding promiscuous philandering peccadillos
undermining energy and time not spent with missus
and mother of our precious progeny,
whereby, yours truly sought, (somewhat assertively, modestly,
and zestfully) to elicit – illicit prurient heterosexual predilections
before dark shadow of guilt...

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My life, like everybody else’s, is a treasure trove
with a mine from which one’s treasures are derived.
The familial bonds we form are platinum; our friendships gold.
These are precious ores that most souls are born to...

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SOLDIER OF BATTLES..    Steve Hudson

It started, in silence, in infancy; the eyes look beyond the darkness
To understand the sounds of rage, echoes of misunderstanding,
The beginnings of normalcy wrought with disturbance,
Bereavement for the...

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On men* of high birth or station, the THIRUK-KURAL admonishes
   [*on modern-day Kings, Emperors, Dictators and the like leading nations declining as powers through faults of their own ]

K963: perukkaththu veendum panithal ...

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this is an enclosed rhyme
these next two sentences
enclosed as in parenthesis
with the first and fourth line

The rhyming sequence must conform to A,B.B.A, any other format then it is not an enclosed rhyme in the true...

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Donkey 

Pin back your ears
Settle down for the ride
And you'll find a warm feeling
Somewhere way deep inside.. 

Here is a story
That has often been told
It's full of excitement 
and never gets old 

It starts with...

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I've dug my nails down into the ground
Broke them down to the tiniest of nubs,
Digging in the lowliest mines of the African continent just to find the hardest diamonds,
The sharpest crystals just to build a...

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Buck privates are designated the lowliest of the ranks,
And for all they do, they receive very little thanks.
The corporal says do this and the sergeant says do that,
And if he doesn't comply, he's in for...

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Palm Sunday

Shopping and hawking, 
purchasing and vending their wares; 
the observant noticed; 
the indifferent paid no mind; 
the powerful perturbed by all the noise
make their way to confront
and charge the man
some call anointed. 

Loud and...

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I lived in a land where the coconuts grew
where the sun always shone
under sky that was blue
where the fans on the ceilings
and conditioned air
were the only cool breeze
you could find anywhere.

I basked in the heat,...

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The Relentless 
I know, do not remind me, but today I saw my father
On TV, he is 110 and can dance salsa, so if I´m like him
I have years of gymnastic prowess  
I rang...

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He was my vision of a good life.
I soon, became his new wife.
Celebrations were grand
Then, we did not demand.
Together we shared goals…hoped.
Disappointments came, we coped.
I gave all that she had.
Through the good and the bad.
At...

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We were in the field,
Tending our sheep.
All was so quiet,
We were falling asleep!

In the blink of an eye,
The sky turned so bright!
All the angels appeared,
We trembled with fright!

Glory to God in the highest,
The host of...

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Last Curtain
by Rabindranath Tagore
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

I know the day comes when my eyes close,
when my sight fails,
when life takes its leave in silence
and the last curtain veils my vision.
Yet the stars will...

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~ A Poem on the Parsha* ~

            
         'In the Sinai Desert'

  A wilderness -...

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Deep in the forest
On a heading of northwest
We weren't looking for anything of interest
When we came across a wooden bridge woven
Together with the creepiest
Rope which was between two rock ledges
Sitting on the crest.
We didn't go...

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Colors fading from view
The sun dies slowly in the sky
Clouds grow and churn above
Casting shadows on an empty landscape
The rotting smell of sulfur fills the air
Even as the lowliest creature struggles
Fighting for a final gasp...

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Tell me, who do you say that I am? 
--The Son of God, 
--King of Kings, 
--Lord of Lords?
Even you, Lord, did not call yourself divine. 

You never claimed to be 
--God in the flesh,...

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Despair of spectres whispered, John heard it muttered
Fears spoken, centuries of shame sunk into stone
Hanging tree hoisted him, feet above ground fluttered
Rope bound neck bulged, blood starved eyes shuttered

Aghast, entertainment starved spectators absorbed gore
Under his...

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