Long Mayfly Poems

Poems about Mothers


Mother's Smile
by Michael R. Burch

There never was a fonder smile
than mother's smile, no softer touch
than mother's touch. So sleep awhile
and know she loves you more than "much."

So more than "much, " much more...

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Epitaph for a Palestinian Child
by Michael R. Burch

I lived as best I could, and then I died.
Be careful where you step: the grave is wide.

This poem has also been titled "Epitaph for a Child of...

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Poems about Fathers and Grandfathers III




Success
by Michael R. Burch

for Jeremy

We need our children to keep us humble
between toast and marmalade;

there is no time for a ticker-tape parade
before bed, no award, no bright statuette

to be delivered...

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Here We Shall Remain
by Tawfiq Zayyad
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Like twenty impossibilities
in Lydda, Ramla and Galilee ...
here we shall remain.

Like brick walls braced against your chests;
lodged in your throats
like shards of glass
or prickly cactus...

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First they came for the Muslims

after Martin Niemoller

First they came for the Muslims
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Muslim.

Then they came for the homosexuals
and I did not speak out
because I was...

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Cleansings
by Michael R. Burch

Walk here among the walking specters. Learn
inhuman patience. Flesh can only cleave
to bone this tightly if their hearts believe
that God is good, and never mind the Urn.

A lentil and a bean might...

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Sonnet LXXXI-LXXXIX

Day, and Night
by Michael R. Burch

The moon exposes pockmarked scars of craters;
her visage, veiled by willows, palely looms.
And we who rise each day to grind a living,
dream each scented night of such perfumes
as drew...

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Poems about Children V

Pan
by Michael R. Burch

Among the shadows of the groaning elms,
amid the darkening oaks, we fled ourselves

Once there were paths that led to coracles
that clung to piers like loosening barnacles

where we cannot return,...

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My most popular poems on the Internet (I)

A number of my poems and translations have gone viral, according to Google, and some have been copied onto hundreds to thousands of web pages. That’s a lot...

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World War II Poems and Holocaust Poems (I)

These are poems about World War II and the Holocaust, which is also called the Shoah in Hebrew. 



Epitaph for a Child of the Holocaust
by Michael R. Burch

I...

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Sandy Hook Call to Love
by Michael R. Burch
 
Our hearts are broken today
for our children's small bodies lie broken;
let us gather them up, as we may,
that the truth of our Love may be spoken;
then, when...

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The Pain of Love
by Michael R. Burch 
 
for T. M.
 
The pain of love is this:
the parting after the kiss;
 
the train steaming from the station
whistling abnegation;
 
each interstate’s bleak white bar
that vanishes under...

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"The Children of Gaza" Lyrics: II

These lyrics were written by Michael R. Burch and were adapted in places to the music by Michael R. Burch with input from composer Eduard de Boer.

World premiere, April 22,2017,...

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Of all of the beautiful seasons, I like summertime the best.
As with blooms, greenery, and bird talk, it is richly blest.

When comes dazzlingly warm weather, life moves out of doors,
For the gardens we vacated in...

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Grim reaper forever guaranteed eternal plentiful harvest

the following written 
for no particular rhyme nor reason
quite aware the exit (stage door left)
allows, enables, to provide every season
with a bumper crop of dead souls.

many mortals beseechingly 
lift...

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For long, I had enjoyed solving assorted puzzles, and difficult riddles, too,
For they entertain and stimulate an eager mind, as myriad stars often do.

From years of solving, I'd grown adept, as green river, that knows...

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Night Labor
by Michael R. Burch

for Rachel Corrie

Tonight we keep the flame alive;
we keep the candle lit.
We burn bright incense in your name
and swear we’ll not forget—
your innocence, your courage,
your commitment—till bleak night
surrenders to irrevocable dawn
and...

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These are poems for Ukraine and Ukrainians. 

We Are Here
by Michael R. Burch

“We are here.” – Volodymyr Zelensky

We are here. Were are here.
And we won’t disappear.
We are here. We are here. We are here.

We are...

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HOMELESS POETRY

These are poems about the homeless and poems for the homeless.



Epitaph for a Homeless Child
by Michael R. Burch
		
I lived as best I could, and then I died.
Be careful where you step: the grave is...

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These are poems for the victims of the Nashville Covenant School shootings.


Nashville Covenant Call to Love
by Michael R. Burch

Our hearts are broken today
for our children's small bodies lie broken;
let us gather them up, as we...

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Advice to Young Poets
by Nicanor Parra Sandoval
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Youngsters,
write however you will
in your preferred style.
Too much blood flowed under the bridge
for me to believe
there’s just one acceptable path.
In poetry everything’s permitted.



Byron
was not...

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The Mayfly is up on  the  Kennet,
Well it’s Whitsun why wouldn’t it be?
There’s a fine downstream breeze,
And  the  fishing’s with ease,
Do come as you used to for me.

The Mayfly is up...

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While sipping the brew from the bottle
The world is just a big bubble
Where the law is always denied
For the people, I am a drunkard on the roadside




As the sun rays leaks from the canopy
I can...

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Epigrams V

Are mayflies missed by mountains? Do stars
applaud the glowworm’s stellar mimicry?
—Michael R. Burch



Teach me to love:
to fly beyond sterile Mars
to percolating Venus. 
—Michael R. Burch



Byron
was not a shy one,
as peacocks run.
—Michael R. Burch

When I...

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A deep wooded valley, heavily condensed with enriching moisture, and more importantly, teeming with an assortment of life, of every size, shape, and species. One such life just awoke and has spread its delicate see-through...

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