Long Raiment Poems

World War II Poems and Holocaust Poems - VI - Chaim Nachman Bialik, Erich Fried

After My Death
by Chaim Nachman Bialik
translation by Michael R. Burch

Say this when you eulogize me: 
Here was a man—now, poof, he's...

Read More

Charles d'Orleans: a Medieval Marvel


Spring
by Charles d’Orleans (c. 1394-1465)
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Young lovers,
greeting the spring
fling themselves downhill,
making cobblestones ring
with their wild leaps and arcs,
like ecstatic sparks
struck from coal.

What is their brazen goal?

They grab...

Read More

Medieval Poems

How Long the Night
anonymous Middle English lyric, circa early 13th century AD
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

It is pleasant, indeed, while the summer lasts
with the mild pheasants' song ...
but now I feel the northern...

Read More

Spring
by Charles d'Orleans (c.1394-1465)
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Young lovers,
greeting the spring
fling themselves downhill,
making cobblestones ring
with their wild leaps and arcs,
like ecstatic sparks
struck from coal.

What is their brazen goal?

They grab at whatever passes,
so we can...

Read More

Saturday, September 23, 2023  

Coincides with first day of fall
and Autumnal equinox for said year,
where colorful splash kindled like tinder.

After I riff flecked about thee August
Autumn Equinox 2023,
this seasonal polymath teached you 
fall Equinox...

Read More

When days of old
                               ...

Read More

January 13th 2024 - Happy Lxv-th birthday Matthew Scott Harris

date of conception:?  ~ Late March – mid April 1958.
date of parturition: January xiii, mcmlix.
date of expiration:? January i, eminem, 
where earth, wind, and fire...

Read More

Note:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Bysshe_Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley,  Born 4 August 1792
Horsham, Sussex, England[1]
Died , 8 July 1822 (aged 29)
Gulf of La Spezia, Kingdom of Sardinia (now Italy)
Occupation	Poet, dramatist, essayist, novelist
Alma mater	University College, Oxford (no degree)
Literary movement	Romanticism
Spouse	Harriet Westbrook
(m. 1811;...

Read More

A king entered in a robe,
Clothed in a raiment of
Multitudous colors:
Vast and enormous is he,
Occupying matters of matters,
Spaces of Spaces.
His presence accomodates no vacuum.
Before him was raident throne,
Swathed in light and graced
With fire of sulphur...

Read More

Happy Lxiv birthday Matthew Scott Harris

date of conception:?  ~ Late March – mid April 1958.
date of parturition: January xiii, mcmlix.
date of expiration:? January i, eminem.

A gangly, measly, and scraggly bundle
of lovely bones even as...

Read More

Invisibly tortured courtesy existential nihilism

Psyche wracked with agony
impossible mission to extricate lovely bones
they wanna remain permanently abed.

I chiefly function to amass knowledge
courtesy assiduously, habitually,
and judiciously reading
an eclectic assortment of written material.

Yours truly woke
with ambition, disposition,
inclination,...

Read More

The remnants of August 2024 Hurricane Debbie

Like a humane huntress, she
(the anthropomorphized storm)
brought a spate of cool Autumn like
temperatures and gentle soothing rain
here within my neck of the woods
for the last couple of days.

No matter...

Read More

Joseph Robinette Biden Junior

The last prescient perspicacious politician, 
who presided at the White House
ran out of office despite victorious landslide win
most Democrats gave their signed, 
sealed, and delivered grudging approval, 
but could not stem the...

Read More

Cold death it is, descending from the sky,
That like a shroud, across the land doth lie.

And why need death be cold?
Let we this tale unfold.
Dire death is no distraction for the best!
They gather wind, where...

Read More

Amélie Beth Harris -McGeehan

Acknowledgment of birthday gal,
whose invaluable priceless worth
exceeds more'n a bajillion dollars.  

First born of Boyce and Harriet
(both long since deceased,
albeit cremated whereby their ashes
- cremains scattered to the four winds)
in Paterson,...

Read More

Albedo effect in full force after appreciable snowfall

After descent of eventide
luminescence of freshly fallen snow
still illuminates the terrestrial firma bright
even upon the onset of dusk,
when dark shadows
betoken the edge of night
analogously herald outer limits
invoking intimations...

Read More

Wonderment at existence – mine

a sixty four year old married bloke
born January 13th, mcmlix
under Capricorn sign in general,
and January 13th in particular
who dons online personage
with custom (think 
swiftly tailored harried styled) 
made poetic raiment cloak.

With...

Read More

The following fictitious scenario I evoke

Analogous to fire breathing 
puffed up imaginary dragon
(in a land called Honah Lee)
ye might rightly think
what the deuce
haunting spectre ace of spades 
goodfella aiming to be a poet all about,
meaning...

Read More

He was alive should breathing be called life, 
In state of peace and bliss, no surface strife, 
Suffering in silent resolve for long, 
A man as was of intense self-esteem, 
Died long ere, waiting still...

Read More

To glimpse the camel-litter, Qais no longer with his madness strains
The yearnings of the heart are dead, the heart itself is cold; so we;
And desolation fills our house for shines not there the Light of...

Read More

I awoke to find 
that Jack Frost had paid a visit 
to my bedroom windows
for the very first time 
this Winter.

If only I had seen him at work
I would have thanked him
for decorating 
my otherwise...

Read More

Autumnal equinox 2022 - 
Thursday, September 22
in Northern Hemisphere 9:03 PM
Eastern Daylight Time

Empyrean découpage citadel
betokens (bespeaks) autumnal arrival
nine oh three post meridian
chariot of fire emblazons telltale signature,
one humble human doth 
bid summer and his squandered...

Read More

The desert breaks each man open,
at the crossing of dunes-
Where the sun sets,
God enters
 
violently, for survival
to begin
 
without water
without shelter
without raiment
without poison
 
each man
with his mind only
 
crosses sunsets to find freedom,
first in the...

Read More

Holocaust Poem: "On The Slaughter of the Jews"
by Chaim Nachman Bialik
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Merciful heavens, have pity on me!
If there is a God approachable by men
as yet I have not found him—
Pray for...

Read More

Out of the golden gates,
there rode mounted knights of the king's guard,
To the left flank and the right flank they formed ranks,
the infantry as the centre,
The infantry still forming, shining no more were they,
midnight sun...

Read More