Long Sepulchre Poems

   Symbols cry in dry ice theater -
the expanse of aesthetic visa-
drawn-
from the romance of the silvery eye -
as it golden advances the lid of covenance 
in dynamic enzyme.
Open faced type interpreted-
interpreter-embossed embol-
in...

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The crime is snowed over, Translation of Pierre Emmanuel’s  Il neige sur le crime

Are we buried under snow holding our silence
in what immense Cimmerian (collision) of terror ?
The mouth kept open in the shriek...

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The moon has groaned home;

And soon the shadow’s drum,

Resonates the rhythmic silhouette,

To the ferocious pains of the spine;

Hear the heavy throbs of the drum,

The panting steps of the trumpet,

And the singing sage of the flute.

See...

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Light da Roman candles
for da coming Chariots of Pharaoh holiday
Dem New Publicans
be back in pyramid power
Give a Caesar Palace casino hip, hip-hooray

Happy daze are here again!
Dem New Publicans bray 
dey be da common people’s friend

But...

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Unto all generations comes a time,
  a time to take and to lose.
A time for peace and a time for war -
  time to heal, time to bruise

Loud is the cry of “stolen...

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Three days after Our Lord died on the Cross
He was placed in the sepulchre
Mary Magdalene came early that day
She said.. They taken our Lord away
Then as Mary stood.. weeping
she wept.. as she looked into the...

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As Medusa walks in, shuts the door,
caresses precision hand down the mahogany-
and shows one what for.

Senses in starbursts-cloudburst
flavor crystals accenting- your bloom 
of predicate corpus, cat claws in my brain, 
comes metamorphosis-
Led mushrooming depth of...

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Excerpts from "The Tulip of Sinai"
by Allama Iqbal
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch



Withered Roses
by Allama Iqbal
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

What shall I call you,
but the nightingale's desire?

The morning breeze was your nativity,
an afternoon garden,...

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Pictures of the dead,
pamphlets of the deceased
They’re passed out at every funeral,
where the broken hearted grieve ...
handed out like business cards
This strange belief
is a superstitious tradition
that truly mystifies me
There’s a lot of underground networking
going on:...

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ALLAMA IQBAL TRANSLATIONS INTO MODERN ENGLISH



Excerpt from Rumuz-e bikhudi (“The Mysteries of Selflessness”)
by Allama Iqbal aka Muhammad Iqbal
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Like a candle fending off the night,
I consumed myself, melting into tears.
I spent...

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Excerpts from "Cordoba"
by Allama Iqbal
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch



Withered Roses
by Allama Iqbal
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

What shall I call you,
but the nightingale's desire?

The morning breeze was your nativity,
an afternoon garden, your sepulchre.

My tears...

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ALLAMA IQBAL TRANSLATIONS INTO MODERN ENGLISH



Ehad-e-Tifli (“The Age of Infancy”)
by Allama Iqbal aka Muhammad Iqbal
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

The earth and the heavens remained unknown to me,
My mother's bosom was my only world.

Her embraces...

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Born into this world as a humble, helpless Babe
Christ increased in wisdom and stature
Grew up in favour with both God and man

Baptised publicly by John the Baptist
Tempted by the devil, but overcame him
Preached the gospel...

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... O altar, altar, thus saith the LORD:
Behold, a child shall be born unto the
house of David, Josiah by name; and 
upon thee shall he offer the priests of
the high places that burn incense upon
thee,...

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When the 
seaside sepulchre 
of a kingdom, 
without its queen, 
is smeared with 
screams of lighting, 
I wish to crackle
these slivers 
of silver shakle, 
and devour
that consoling 
taste of balsamic 
twilight, which 
drapes every 
ritual...

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THE LIPS
Oh! what a world of sin I created?
Looking around humanities, I saw the beautiful lust in their heart towards me.
All big teeth,  considered me important.
I cover the  teeth nomatter how big it...

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A flaming bow of agonies arrows

Precisionistly launched into the night

Penetrating at will, an endless column of lives

Bleeding souls, bound in flesh, of their imprisoned sight....

Walls of blackness, where they stand and face, the executioners aim

Unable...

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Compartmentalization, as a curse is looming large,
As men in toto are fragmented into groups or sects
On grounds of caste, creed, sex or political affiliations 
Branding some as powerful or weak or the corn and the...

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Your angelic girlhood I ruined
And your upscale lifestyle you abandoned
To lull the little me while I groaned
And nourish the frail me as I matured
All because in me you hoped
But to take back you never lived
Because...

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Quote:
If there were no night, we would not appreciate the day, 
nor could we see the stars and the vastness of the heavens. 
We must partake of the bitter with the sweet. 
There is a...

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I AM THE BANANA TREE


I am the banana tree
That dwells where rivers meet ;
I am the banana tree
That dwells where sun lives;
On fertility I tower ; believe,
Your party hour has come
You shall now eat my...

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Passion or Desire is not pure potential seeking manifestation.
It is the manifestation of Life's flaming sword, runic capital letter of the sacred word. 
A spark that has been sparked,  
the flint that struck it's...

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At exactly mid night
When only the breeze whispered
Another voice pierced my ears
I could recogise mama's voice.

Stealthily  I looked at her
She had worn a white sutana*
And held a candle stick in a hand
And a book...

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Lot of money being made in death sales,
plenty pints of iron-copper deposits
Body bags coin-wrapped
are rolling out of the blood bank sin-ters
to the holey pocket hospitals

Everybody knows the 911 cellular bar code:
Zinc life is an Alloy...

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War ain’t a kosher thing
The killing of innocent human beings
was never FDA approved
(From Da Almighty)

Ebenezer fiscals’ hands be closed tighty
	to the citizen poor
But they openly solicit those laborers’ loyalty,
before sending them off to war

Dem silver-loving...

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