Long Outlasted Poems

Lost In the Mists Parts I - IV

                           ...

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Oh look here— behold a dandelion woman
the original wild flower!
I go where I want to go
I grow where I want to grow —
don't matter if   y o u   say no

dandelion wine...

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I Loved You
by Alexander Pushkin
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

1.
I loved you once … perhaps I love you still …
perhaps such erratic flickerings remain.
But please don’t let my feelings trouble you;
I do not wish to...

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THE RUIN 
an Old English poem about fate & destiny
modern English translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

well-hewn was this wall-stone, till Wyrdes wrecked it
and the Colossus sagged inward...

broad battlements broken;
the Builders' work battered;

the high ramparts toppled;
tall...

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<                                  ...

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People say my poetry is mostly doom and gloom
But I’m a funny person and I’ll prove it to you soon
My wit and sharp ripostes are a constant delight
Let’s see if I can tell this story...

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the waning moonlight thinly enveloped 	
the dusky canvas obscurely sprawling
across the way from the window I looked,
I knew a park was there with slides and swing	
but for the moment dark revealed nothing,
for the moment I...

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While sidestepping impediments,
Achilles heel stricken with paralyzing zap
chronically inducing captain klutz
to bemoan and yap,
i.e. (think) booby trap
strategically laid down by the missus -

necessitating yours truly
to patschke with marauder map
in an to circumvent and handicap
becoming lame...

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A letter to Time



            Time, this letter is to you, an area of contention
          ...

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Greys, Part III

Temerity, the crux of the Human Way -
We dominate what we can,
Deride the rest -
But the heart speaks in terms the tongue cannot frame,
Suggesting the worst is a part of our best
The ashen...

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As a child, he outlasted the nine-month process and lasted ten months within his mother's womb. Ten months inside made him different than us. 
A child who was classified with brilliant mathematical skills. 
Skills which...

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Some young people just don’t seem to know
that freedom is the only way to go.
With minds addled by tired lies,
and not experience enough to realize
that when everything is said and done,
America is made of awesome.

They’re...

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My days filled with your inspiration
Anticipating our love vibration
That makes my heart start racing
Chasing our dreams with all this sensation
Of our feelings that have come unmasked
Trying to keep our lives on task
Moving forward not able...

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Darkness ended, Winter released her icy grip; budding crystals soon began to drip.

The Earth then tendered, its surface filled with life; Spring now wed to Summer, the
radiant rays piercing the frozen skies.

But Beauty gives way...

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She watched, in horror
As the man hit the nail
The hammer was an enemy
The best she could tell

She observed a child
Emulate his father
With a tiny thwack
He hit another man's daughter

She heard the familiar sound
Of bang, bang,...

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Prosperity proved no defense against the years or changing fates writ in the stars - nor masters of arms foresaw the weapons that unseated their lineages, leaving only ghostly bones where legions rallied beneath dancing...

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There is a pretty lady, who lives up north you see.
One of the fairest maidens from the Columbia to the 
         shining sea.
She always looks her best,...

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Dad, the pangs of sorrows
Pierced my Mom ceaselessly 
Like arrows in her heart, 
Caring and innocent, 
The day you left, years back, 
On your eternal journey
Leaving us all behind.

So much she loved you
She knew not...

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November Ninth the President
By Franklin Price
11/9/2016

November ninth the president elect is thought to be:
Donald Trump with outside chance will get the victory.
It's nip and tuck and hardly fought; the vote count is not done.
There are...

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We built this house
On a dirt road at the edge of the forest
And between two coyotes dens
So it’s hard to know if the howling at night
Is sibling rivalry or civil war
Serenade or sacrifice

The colonial maps...

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Long ago, long a-gone.
The world was a fickle mistress.
The snowstorm was a white reaper, who uprooted the lame, and washed its white coat every winter.
The heatwave was a sweeping hatchet. Even a clear sky could...

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The Earl of Sandwich created the sandwich, so it is alleged,
So as not to interrupt a gamblin' game in which he'd hedged!
If he'd used his given name, Montague, for that repast instead,
We'd be eatin' "Montagues",...

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He sat on the park bench
        The weight of ages
        Settled about his shoulders.
       ...

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if you wanna find me, look up i won’t be hiding,
in the sky’s where i'll be hundred thousand miles and climbing
i'll be gettin lifted like the clouds vapor rising
flying through the time zones while i'm...

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I was just walking down the street
when it hit me
a quick jab….followed
by a crushing right cross.
I staggered….stunned
by the suddenness of
a seemingly unprovoked attack.
Life, fate, Karma…WHAT!!!
I covered up, rolled, bobbed left,
feinted right, slid along the ropes
found...

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