Long Proverb Poems

Epigrams by Michael R. Burch

If brevity is the soul of wit
then brevity and levity 
are the whole of it.
—Michael R. Burch

To write an epigram, cram.
If you lack wit, scram!
—Michael R. Burch

Conformists of a feather
flock together.
—Michael...

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Epigrams

Autumn Conundrum
by Michael R. Burch

It’s not that every leaf must finally fall,
it’s just that we can never catch them all.

Piercing the Shell
by Michael R. Burch

If we strip away all the accouterments of war,
perhaps we'll discover...

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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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Native American Translations

Cherokee Travelers' Blessing I
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

I will extract the thorns from your feet.
For yet a little while, we will walk life's sunlit paths together.
I will love you like my own...

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Salat Days
by Michael R. Burch 

(dedicated to my grandfather, Paul Ray Burch Sr.)

I remember how my grandfather used to pick poke salat ...
though first, usually, he’d stretch back in the front porch swing,
dangling his long...

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Rejection
a roundel by Geoffrey Chaucer
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Your beauty from your heart has so erased
Pity, that it's useless to complain;
For Pride now holds your mercy by a chain.

I'm guiltless, yet my sentence has...

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Medieval Poem V

A Proverb from Winfred's Time
anonymous Old English poem, circa 757-786
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

1.
The procrastinator puts off purpose,
never initiates anything marvelous,
never succeeds, and dies alone.

2.
The late-deed-doer delays glory-striving,
never indulges daring dreams,
never succeeds,...

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Translations of the Oldest English Rhyming Poems

The Rhymed Poem aka The Rhyming Poem aka The Riming Poem
Old English/Anglo-Saxon poem from the Exeter Book, circa 990 AD
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

(excerpt)
He who granted me life...

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~ The  Holy  Bible ~
 (Quatern)


 It tells the beginning of man
 How  God  created all from start
 He made the moon, stars,  earth, day, night
 It  tells of...

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A homeless poet

A few days ago, I was walking home with my dollar store notebook in my hand as I walked. I was deep in thought about how I was going to fill these 250...

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President Trump, 
shortly after his singularly smelly election, 
declared emphatic comparisons with Elder Republican
Abraham Lincoln.

Early on,
he described Lincoln as his kindred political soul,
admired mentor,
and the former President he was destined to most resemble
in spirit and...

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Unquotable quotes: The Janitor, Gardienne, Landlady, Housekeeper, Portero, Sereno and the Hausgast –XXXii Part Two

The duties of the Housekeeper in the U.K. par rapport au Portero in Spain or the Gardienne in France is that...

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Niitthaar Perumai, The Fundamental Role of the Ascetic: Canto 3, K29 and K30 of the Thirukkural by Thiruvalluvar
(In these kurals, I give both the "unrefined" versions using connective particles and modified post-positions (in Tamil: according...

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"Listen to the wind, it talks. Listen to the silence, it speaks. Listen to your heart, it knows." - Native American Proverb

             ...

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Sex Hex
by Michael R. Burch

Love’s full of cute paradoxes
(and highly acute poxes).



Love
by Michael R. Burch

Love is either wholly folly,
or fully holy.



Nun Fun Undone
by Michael R. Burch

Abbesses'
recesses
are not for excesses!



Here and Hereafter
by Michael R. Burch

Life’s saving...

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both low and high, rich and poor alike: My mouth will speak words of wisdom; the meditation of my heart will give you understanding. I will turn my ear to a proverb; with the harp...

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Life is not
measure by
the number
of breaths we
take, but by the
moments that take
our breath away.

The Lord your
God is with you,
He is mighty to
save.  He will take
great delight
in you, He will
quiet you with
His love.
He will rejoice
over...

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Life Comes to You


				You can’t plan life,
				Life comes to you,
				God is the only One
				Who knows the direction
				Our life will go,
				Our dreams and goals
				Sometimes get put on hold
				Or rejections come our way
				You can’t plan life
				Life comes...

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We ponder Pandora as the person preordained
to unleash a plethora of plagues upon our persons.

But here's what I heard:
Pandora had two sisters,
Persephone and Proserpina.
Pandora perused poetry 
while Persephone practiced petite-point.
But Proserpina possessed the predilection
for picking...

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Sometimes I feel I know nothing about life

But I do know something about Kenya

I come from the gustily, hilly terrains of rural Ingavira

Where huts form bungalow sorts of flawless beauty

An ambiance of warm soothing atmosphere

And...

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Speechless at Auschwitz
by Ko Un
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

At Auschwitz
piles of glasses
mountains of shoes ...
returning, we stared out different windows.

Ko Un speaks for all of us, by not knowing what to say about the...

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Some folks just don't have a life of their own.
Some live on other's problems.
Some live on other's dreams, and hopes for the future.
Some live on just being the antagonist to everyone else;
They are the worst...

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Dancing in the silence,
Like a prayer – tranquility
Soothing away my doubts,
Erasing my tears, hushing my fears
Where only love’s embrace
Inspires, stirs the gentle grace
That colors my thoughts in hues of joy,
Tenderness, light and beauty

Feelings, breathtaking and...

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I have waited for the New Age--that Tranelike return to my Mediterranean Sundance Always and Forever missing the  journey of the Caravansary of old.
Hence, Only Time and the touch of the Rio Ancho, its...

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If you have ever been near Pentecostal Churches - that really began in c.1900 - you would know Psalm 91 as a great Prayer of Protection and Victories! It is hard not to love both...

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