Long Ravished Poems

In sandy Egypt lived three men
In ancient days when pharaohs reigned
The kingdom of the pyramids,
Osiris and that Isis’ den,
Whom everyone worships and heeds,
Or at least doing so they feigned,
And those gods too blessed them and...

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MICHELANGELO: Modern English Translations

Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) is considered by many experts to be the greatest artist and sculptor of all time. These are modern English translations of his poems and epigrams by Michael R. Burch.



SONNET:...

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1

The drummer beats slowly, the drummer beats loud
     as he beats of humanity wrapped in a shroud.

Well he beats of the rape and the killing of war
     and the mind mangling sorrow we blithely ignore
          and...

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I killed my friend,
I never wanted,
Do not see me cruel,
I did it for love.
We both ran naked
Under this influential shower.
No one uncoupled his lips
Against this faint madness,
We were indebted,
Either had to earn the prize.


It was...

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We have been observing the expanse of the parched land for many years, a land that stood the test of time and captivated by myriad dreams unfolding through the footsteps of the ages thus penetrating...

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Day in, day out… I’m here
softly walking down 
the corridors of your mind
a seductress in search of the room
where you hide your heart

The train of my lace gown trails behind me
my bare feet hardly making...

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‘WHITE COLUMN RESSURRECTION’

Even now you stand poised with memories of a corned cobbed pipe in one hand-tight gripped lapel in the other-perched against thick southern charmed columns positioned on a once so powerful veranda .

Peering...

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 play at Full Volume





"MOTHER" 

Mother Earth 
is Crying

Her heart is breaking
Earth is shaking violently

She is hurt and 
She is angry

Her tears no longer reign
Oceans swelling dry 

all the creatures 
She spits out 

on Her...

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Day in, day out… I’m here
softly walking down 
the corridors of your mind
a seductress in search of the room
where you hide your heart

The train of my sheer gown trails behind me
my bare feet hardly making...

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You march through the village with guns, missiles and rockets, and scrutinize the people, with foolish command that ravished the entire village before the break of dawn.

 You make appointment with the beast and spread...

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I
At the marketplace
by sunrise
when the serenity of the dawn is ravished by unknown
voices…

When the Sun passes through the merry-go-round
beyond the horizon
when the turbulent wind is silenced,
and the voice of the cicadas
is no longer heard…

From a...

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Figurines


Lace up your shoes
Wear your black hoodie 
And your Timberland’s, too
You’ll never know what ‘ll happen to you 
Or where you’ll end up
On your way home 

Your ancestors have walked this land
In shackles and in...

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THE BLOODY TOWER

I am so trapped a phantom princess, on an ethereal plain, spiritually
Forgotten in isolation's domain, in hell's chamber of brick and mortar,
In this imprisonment of the unjust, I'm the innocent accursed, in England's
Bloody...

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The ladder is cold steel and past its days, dulled to a natural grey
Yet its rungs still stand strong, stretched over the battered frame
See over time, a ravished age, the world has grasped the ladders...

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1. MORNING HAS BROKEN 
The men, in lines, tramp two by two,
forgetting all the women who
indulged them through a night of tricks
(their lips designed with crimson sticks,
their eyes a wild mascara mix)

and think instead on...

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"All the Pretty Words"



All the pretty words
blooming like summer jonquils
fade from the velvet fresh green tongues
and rich fecund tussled beds 
of poets and minstrels
strumming hearts with 
fingers that waltz over keys
plucking tangos from dreams of
sensitive...

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I knelt amidst the mountain's rise
        beneath the weeping opal skies
            there to measure Io's swoon
 ...

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He cleared the pebbles from around them
And then, with his finger
He started making marks in the sand

The crowd hushed
Not a sound could be heard
What was he writing?
He could stand in no longer
He pushed his way...

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King Cephissus lured Liriope
.  To bathe and frolic in his stream
   Entrapping her she lost all hope
   His favours now she must redeem 
   Her ardent struggles came...

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TICKLE TICKLE IN MY HEAD


The heart can be merry,
Even if the man is not a jolly,
Gaiety of life appeases yhe heart,
Festals make even the sad one to yearn gor good music,
Believe you me,many things i...

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As they threw her to the ground
He quickly drew back into the crowd
Adjusting his clothing
Hoping to go unnoticed
To fit in

He watched her
Cover her bare breast
With his prayer shawl
Why hadn't he been smart enough
To grab that...

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BOADICEA

FIRST STANZA
Boadicea!
Oh Boadicea!
I mourn for you!
Since the day you left us
Our lives has been blue
To defend Britain from the Romans
You laid down your life
And saved your people from the Butcher’s knife
Liberty and justice was all...

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In the first week of December
The winter was cold and bitter
I stepped into the night and shivered and moaned
Enraptured by the wind and the vast unknown
In the corners of my fragile mind
I misplaced all sense...

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I knelt amidst the mountain's rise, beneath the weeping opal skies,
      There to measure Io's swoon - the envy of each lesser moon ...
      ...

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Encounter :Beginning
A wailing
jolted out of dream
forced from suspension
my liquid world
I feel then strangling me
the hands of anxiety
so starved for attention
so starved for nourishment
the world has come 
to open my eyes 
the journey of me begins
substance...

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