Long Nourishes Poems

Sonnets XXV-XXXII

Archaischer Torso Apollos (“Archaic Torso of Apollo”)
by Rainer Maria Rilke
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

We cannot know the beheaded god
nor his eyes' forfeited visions. But still
the figure's trunk glows with the strange vitality
of a...

Read More

Sonnets X-XVI


Archaischer Torso Apollos (“Archaic Torso of Apollo”)
by Rainer Maria Rilke
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

We cannot know the beheaded god
nor his eyes' forfeited visions. But still
the figure's trunk glows with the strange vitality
of a...

Read More

Come, You
by Rainer Maria Rilke
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

This was Rilke’s last poem, written ten days before his death. He died open-eyed in the arms of his doctor on December 29, 1926, in the...

Read More

The Good Girl

Penny has always been a good girl, now she is a good wife. She lives in a good neighborhood, drives a nice car, has two perfect children. Her husband is a doctor and...

Read More

Archaischer Torso Apollos ("Archaic Torso of Apollo")
by Rainer Maria Rilke
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch 

We cannot know the beheaded god
nor his eyes' forfeited visions. But still
the figure's trunk glows with the strange vitality
of a...

Read More

Together we are like crisp morning snow and dry sooty oil poured onto the ground in our different ways. I putter around the home like puppy dog waiting for his next meal and she toils...

Read More

The
Heavens
Pouring out
Nectar of Life,
Earth beats : The Notes Fertile.  
                 ?¿
       ...

Read More

I do not chase what is destined for me,
for I have felt what it's like to pursue a dream that dissolves on the horizon,
leaving only unfulfilled longings and deep silences,
like a song lost in the...

Read More

Cry Wolf

Searchingly,
I peered into your sky painted eyes
without fully understanding what I might find,
but finding that which I might never fully understand.
And now,
My heart is adrift,
like flotsam ,hopelessly adrift.
And the wind that blows is cold,
and...

Read More

Placed third in:
Raining in Summer Poetry Contest
Sponsored by Ink Empress

                         ...

Read More

Do you know what it is like to be an untouchable?
To be so filthy and disgusting
That people shrink away from you
Do you know how it corrodes your soul
To see how the stench that follows your...

Read More

See it standing there elongated and bright
See it standing there thinking about me all night
It is shooting up in the air with no limit to bear
It’s standing tall and strong with something for everyone.

It’s only...

Read More

The sun is shining in the east with petals opening bright, spreading its fragrance into the light and an epiphany of hope resting on the branches swinging from limb to limb while my heart entertains...

Read More

For soon the rains of destiny will fall
as innocence capitulates its soul.
Aggression sealed your fears within a wall
to let disease and hunger take their toll.
Your rank-and-file dissolved into the night
with nary whisper echoing their names,
‘tis...

Read More

Four days have been spent going about like goats
following curves and ravines, climbing cliffs and being tortured by prickly pears
the cactuses from hell that I'm certain are alive and plotting to puncture our feet,
in many...

Read More

The orbiting host of a forenoon sky claims a sunny day. They are attributed for the better part of each year, primarily affecting the island's leeward side. On its windward side, periodic downpours from time...

Read More

LAO TZU ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS IV

The Roots of Turbulence
by Lao Tzu, translation by Michael R. Burch

Heaviness lies at the root of lightness;
stillness begets turbulence.
Thus the nobleman heads his caravan
keeping a constant eye on his possession-laden wagons.
At...

Read More

Come, You
by Rainer Maria Rilke
translation by Michael R. Burch

Come, you—the last one I acknowledge; return—
incurable pain searing this physical mesh.
As I burned in the spirit once, so now I burn
with you; meanwhile, you consume my...

Read More

Nile stretches like serpent from abyss
Because it nourishes the desert it reflects universal bliss
On its shores Cleopatra gave Mark Anthony a kiss
Where she turned a ruler from a princess

That is where the ancient Sphinx whispers...

Read More

(Bang-e-Dra-114), Khitab Ba Jawanan-e-Islam.
These are Golden words by Dr Allama Iqbal.
Khatab Ba Jawanan-e-Islam
Address To The Muslim Youth.
https://youtu.be/AwSNPEDGIrw
Sir Muhammad Iqbal  (9 November 1877 – 21 April 1938), widely known as Dr Allama Iqbal, was a...

Read More

Cold morning greets the weary eye clouds drape the horizon in gray
I turn around avoiding the sight I cannot stand with a dreary pale day
And then I feel it on the nape of my neck...

Read More

In the heated performance of the day, 
 summer wet evenings close the 
   curtains, concluding with a thunder 
     jest and a gift of wipe. The crawling 
...

Read More

I
                                  ...

Read More

Oh, let us feast,
not just on food,
but on moments,
on the essence of togetherness,
the essence of now,
the sharing of burdens,
the lightening of hearts.
In every bite, a memory,
in every sip, a promise,
that we will gather again,
as the...

Read More

we squeeze in the moment, breeze by the apartment of gore, go to the store with a nail and a 2x4 , flip the sign on the door, excuse yourself coz you're poor and ignored...

Read More