Long Saxons Poems

Swept up into piles; everywhere 
Abouts; in collected heaps all 
Around.               
It is almost as if the drab 
Streets were strewn...

Read More

Lost dexterity since fingers tap away at qwerty keyboard...

since being a student in grade, junior and high school
analogous to geometry proof how lack of use proves
quite aware that finger muscles atrophied
veering off on a tangent...

Read More

across the Doggerland dogged people trudge
  Neanderthals, Heidelbergers...Sapiens, the last ones standing
  hairy mammoths, heavy life bearing down
  the mighty maw of an ice wall crunches, enforcing southward retreat
  remoulding the...

Read More

Uther’s Last Battle
by Michael R. Burch

When Uther, the High King,
unable to walk, borne upon a litter
went to fight Colgrim, the Saxon King,
his legs were weak, and his visage bitter.
“Where is Merlyn, the sage?
For today I...

Read More

“Stafell Gynddylan” (“The Hall of Cynddylan”) belongs to the cycle of Welsh englyn or englynion (three-line stanzas) traditionally called “Canu Heledd” (“The Song of Heledd”). 

The Welsh “dd” is pronounced “th.”
Cynddylan is pronounced KahN-THIHL-aeN.

Stafell Gynddylan...

Read More

KING ALFRED THE GREAT MODERN ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS

King Alfred the Great (c. 849-899), arguably the first great king of England,  may have done more to lay the groundwork for English literacy and literature than any...

Read More

Widsith the Far-Traveler, Part II
ancient Anglo-Saxon poem
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Hrothulf and Hrothgar, uncle and nephew,
for a long time kept a careful peace together
after they had driven away the Vikings' kinsmen,
vanquished Ingeld's spear-hordes,
and hewed...

Read More

Already the month
     of August 2018,
     May never become 
     a je June'm
     (Forget-me-not)
     time...

Read More

To never see the ending must sound like a magical paradise a life of boundless possibility right?...Unbroken will determination like no other??? For the opposite end of the spectrum eternal wondering confusion pondering and questioning...

Read More

A cherished childhood spent cocooned in my inward-looking community,
Protected me from the indoctrination of a white-privileged history.
But when I stepped into a world where brown was under-represented
My identity…Was molested.

My speech, skin, hair and dress, seemed...

Read More

At his wedding Arthur received
a magnificent round table, he was pleased
From king Leodegrances of cameliard
graciously covered, impressively carved

As time went by Arthur decreed
twenty four men that would up heed
He made them knights and brothers to...

Read More

Uther, the High king of England 
fell in love with the Lady Igraine
Knowing she was married to Gorlois
he decided to fight the walrus

For he was the Duke of Tintagel
that Uther wanted to mangle	
‘Thus he defeated...

Read More

The Bard of the Norseman
A warrior’s fame and for glory all Norseman live worthy of life
Worthy the Norseman with warring axe to victory and spilt Saxon blood
For spoils of the serpent’s lair lie across the...

Read More

If we meet at the ball, just one dance, that’s all

And if by chance we do meet at the ball, you shall have that dance

A dance with an angel fallen from stars, 
to grace this...

Read More

Of European descent, from whence they came

Across the borders to settle, re-establishment

Angles, Saxons and Jutes – Anglo-Saxon be known

Conquered lands, such roads have served, that of the Roman Empire

Yet under attack, strong order we lack

Helpless...

Read More

Welcome to the British isles, where cash is flowing
Where much resides, history on every side of killer
Kings and queens provide, a tapestry of style and wiles
Villan's and villein and many wreckers; rode tides; attuned to
The...

Read More

Who was first to write of cultures we read,
With their trans-galactic real estate greed?
The Greeks were dreamers of heaven above
Where the gods and their men fought wars for love.
The Asian myths were clever old stories:
Supernatural...

Read More

My Father's Dream

A wide and vast horizon beckons me to enter there

where oceans echo ancestral voices and gulls paint images in the air.

The Saxons and Angles, Hansas and Norse of Hamburg, Oslo, Kiel and Gdansk

flows...

Read More

Loving you is easy
As you are the door – Ianua 
To spring
Ice clouds are held in the furnace:
Dirty grey pearls
Your other name is of course
Janus- you are the month of transition
Though I love you as...

Read More

Now this month was called Solmonath
the anglo Saxons gave it this name
to mean the month of cakes no less
offered them to their gods being their aim

This is no favourite time of year
at least not in...

Read More

Hmmm... let's start with the Saxons, 
and not forget when they got their groove on. 
If it wasn't for the seax, and the -ons, 
we wouldn't be friends but talking like the Ottomans, mon.

by Martin...

Read More

England my England sets standards anew
Coveted ideals drooled over by hordes
an empire elated shall forever be true

Gilded by conquest stronger men knew
The Romans Saxons Vikings and Nords
England my England sets standards anew

Perched on red charabanc...

Read More

Ah, the rhododendrons, dear and bright,
Look at them for a moment, three seconds,
Seek them in the streets, in silence,
Explore the small multicolored gardens,
They are pink, purple, white, shiny, red.


Ah dear rhododendrons, they are crazy,
They drove...

Read More

Viking me, I want to be
warrior culture, decadent vulture
plunder  & pillage, every village
navigate the sea, longboat to be 
clash of steel, organic feel

Viking Me, I want to be
impenetrable shield wall, kingdom fall
Valhalla bound nomads,...

Read More

Scots-Irish borderers, devout, austere—
With Anglo-Saxons—made their rugged route
West from Watauga, in the chilliest year
Marked in history. Five hundred miles out
Across Kentucky , down to “Tanase”
They trekked with horses, cattle, sheep.
James Robertson led forth this odyssey
That...

Read More