Long Scotland Poems

Sweet Rose of Virtue
by William Dunbar (c. 1460-1530)
loose translation/modernization/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

after William Dunbar

Sweet rose of virtue and of gentleness,
delightful lily of youthful wantonness,
richest in bounty and in beauty clear
and in every virtue that...

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I must say Peter, I've had the most extraordinary day. It all started when I woke up this morning. I was brushing my teeth with this new toothpaste Pepsibrite and literally after just a few...

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RED

One hundred years ago in Pollockshaws
A man was laid to rest,
From humble beginnings to a martyr
They buried Scotland’s best.

A man who stood for the people
A man unshaken and proud,
Till the imperialist and capitalist murderers
 Connived...

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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...

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The Letter         

A young man strolled along the waterfront,
His mind and heart at ease.
Said an old man, sitting on an upturned punt,
Gazing out towards the sea. 

“Come...

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THE WALK
The sun shines on Benarty
On a nice warm summers day,
The bairns have got their clothes on
And they all want out to play.

l make them all some breakfast
And the kids all eat their fill,
Then I...

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Once Upon a long ago time, when the earth was full of abundant life;
and humans, who now have dominion, were but a distant star in the night…
Everything in this magical Kingdom had a spark of...

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Epulaeryu Mango Poetry Season

Greetings my dear brothers and sister of God's inspirational grace, and I pray each of you will defeat Covid-19 and its elusive Delta and Omicron variants, and live a most gracious life...

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A nice cruise from New York, I thought

From down by Pier two-one

I thought I'd head to England

For a good old spot of fun

An Ocean trip, some nice fresh air

Eleven days at sea

I thought this would...

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Long Ago, Memories Of A Cold Winter Night Conversation
(Narrative/Rhyme)

Hebridean isles, once sang to me in a dream,
She her beautiful hair silky, so very long
There rests magnificent treasure few ever find
A good poet would use it...

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Lament for the Makaris ("Lament for the Makers/Poets")
by William Dunbar [c. 1460-1530]
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
 
i who enjoyed good health and gladness
am overwhelmed now by life’s terrible sickness
and enfeebled with infirmity ...
how the...

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Who actually is like us
The modern world you see today
Right before your eyes,
Who done this and who done that
Well you’re in for a wee surprise.

From the Bank of England to the Bank of France
Then we...

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I stood at the back of the line and watched nature unfold in front of my weeping eyes. I stood at the back of the line watching them moving in droves from every corner of...

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My name is Tom Cunningham, I’m retired now but thirty six years ago I had a very strange experience that I have never mentioned to anyone until now.
It was November the seventh, nineteen eighty six,...

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Although born in Scotland I have no memories of there as we left when I was two.
My first recollections are of Las Palmos in the Canaries.
I recall the donkey passing daily and being told he...

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THE UK

Poling, Patching, Nether Wallop, 
Matching Tye and Droop

Plumpton, Lickfold, Puddletown, 
Westward Ho! and Throop.

Hole of Horcum, New Invention,
Boghead, Frome, Cat's Ash

North Piddle, Staines and Pen*stone,
Wash Dyke, East Breast and Flash.

Six Mile Bottom, Mudford Sock,
Wetwood,...

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 ~ I - I Arrive in Glasgow ~

When I arrived in Glasgow town
I knew nary a soul
So tired I's nearly fallin' down
Yet I'd no place to go 

I wandered up Buchanan street 
In hopes...

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is everyone from Barking  Barking mad?
Does everyone In Lambeth do the Lambeth walk?
Is Leicester Square In Leicester?
Is The Elephant And Castle a place where they hide Elephants?
Is Oxford Street in Oxford?
And Paddington a bear?
Highgate...

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Brackish-gurgling days that
Unobtrusively slid along
Past tussock grass and curled up 
Balls of Fern...
Glued tightly onto structured vanes
Of outstretched frond.
Venerable Mosses reciting epic tales,
Measured throughout Metronomical 
Strains,
Chanting methodically in harmonious
Downturn - 
Wherein contained: 
Foreboding dialects delivered...

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Up up the fly away wig doth go revisited and revised April 19th, 2023

IM pen named Pilot Jane A. Rug
who ascribes to writing poetry
as opportunistic, holistic, and cathartic
warming me body electric
courtesy an outsize 
warm brimful...

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I am a descendant of Greece and the
Greeks,
We say hello and goodbye by kissing
Both cheeks,
But I also descend from the British,
For my father was very, very English!
I am a true mix of English
And  Greek,
And...

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Suzie lived next door to Tom, and their families were the best of friends;
Like toffee clouds, chasing rainbows, once the blue storm wildly spends!

Tom and Susie enjoyed playing together, since they were the same age;
Like...

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Up up the fly away wig doth go revisited and revised March 10th, 2024...

(Any resemblance between the following humorous account and real life circumstance tis purely coincidental).

Went off for hair raising shindig
donning noggin of villager...

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the wealth of norman England is poised to grow
  towns enlarge, markets exchange, a fresh fertilising sprinkled culture
  kingdoms extend with numbers reducing
  old and new empires jostle, reshaping across continents and...

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Up up the fly away wig doth go revisited and revised March 10th, 2022...

Went off for hair raising shindig
donning noggin of villager in Nigg
(historic county of Ross-shire,
historic region of Ross
and Cromarty, northeast
coast of Scotland).

Somehow postiche...

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