Long Skillful Poems

Rejection
a roundel by Geoffrey Chaucer
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Your beauty from your heart has so erased
Pity, that it's useless to complain;
For Pride now holds your mercy by a chain.

I'm guiltless, yet my sentence has...

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Medieval Poem V

A Proverb from Winfred's Time
anonymous Old English poem, circa 757-786
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

1.
The procrastinator puts off purpose,
never initiates anything marvelous,
never succeeds, and dies alone.

2.
The late-deed-doer delays glory-striving,
never indulges daring dreams,
never succeeds,...

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This revolutionary message
is brought to you by
the 
TransMillennial EarthTribe CoOperative,
your international ecopolitical sponsor,
speciating Earth's New PostMillennially Silent EcoLogical Majority.

We think we begin to both comprehend,
in a B. Fullerian metaphysical sense,
and co-empathically trust,
in an economic and...

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THIS WORLD OF DEW

This world? 
Moonlit dew
flicked from a crane's bill.
—Eihei Dogen Kigen, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Seventy-one?
How long
can a dewdrop last? 
—Eihei Dogen Kigen, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Dewdrops beading grass-blades
die before...

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Translations of the Oldest English Rhyming Poems

The Rhymed Poem aka The Rhyming Poem aka The Riming Poem
Old English/Anglo-Saxon poem from the Exeter Book, circa 990 AD
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

(excerpt)
He who granted me life...

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Life is like that extent 
     Live that moment 
                   to full extent...

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It was September 
Of one thousand 
Nine hundred seven
The end of summer
With apples lying thickly
Under the apple trees
And the smell of Autumn
Covering the grass
Filled with ripe yellow
And orange squash
He was born in a little
Wooden house...

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'A magical lock?' Groaned Graygall in a voice of defeat.
    'We are doomed before even we are set to advance.
To defeat Trolls would be an almost impossible feat
    but...

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Despite the day-to-day signs of man’s bitter degradation, there were many in the South who somehow still failed to see the endless pain of segregation. From the viewpoint of those who never lived there as...

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Joyce Letitia Richmond-Solomon (A servant of God and a friend to man)

Every life has its seasons and God has created each individual for a purpose. Blessed and happy are those who discover their purpose and...

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I'm writing on the first page.
I love the concord and quiet at my age.
The morning came from a genius mage.
In my spirit, I am searching for the truth stage.
To understand things to resist this upsurge.
It...

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Lockheed, is a fictional Marvel Comic character.  An alien dragon.  He is the
size of a large cat with purple skin, yellow eyes, sharp claws and teeth, curved
horns on his head and wings so...

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Insignificant,
My proses are nothing without you-
but scribbles, through and through
I dream a dark weary blur
of letters, a phrases, going by in a flur-
Even that; my thoughts seeming simple
even then it lacks luster given by you-
the...

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Somewhere beyond the deep young girls are crying out in their sleep. 
Cries that span beyond decades wounding the hearts of weeping mothers 
And breaking the souls of desperate fathers. 

I can hear those cries...

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I was a skillful, amiable nursery worker, cultivating blooms in a greenhouse,
Like feverish and fragrant blooms, often grown in redbird's green treehouse.

Hours were spent sowing seeds, adjusting conditions, and also and pruning,
As June full moon...

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Brilliant writers
have recommended to younger students,
to only write if they cannot live without doing so.

Elder successful icons of artistic expression,
dance,
voice,
drama,
sculptors
have similarly advised apprentices,
do not do as I have done
unless you could do naught else.

But what...

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There once was a west ham 
Went to Hollywood with a plan 
Thackray was her name 
She loved the American cheese game 
Everything seemed fine 
Sorority House filled with cheap wine 
Doing the nickel and...

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Fears Chains (Haiku)

First line 5 syllables
Second line 7 syllables
Third line 5 syllables
(7 syllables)

Caught within a snare
The paralyzing peepshow
Seduces you there
(Making itself intimate)
(undressing for your favor)
(Fairydust of lunacy)
Scrolls, parchments, bark, at the moon)
(Self fulfilling prophecy)
(Demons of...

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Canticle: an Aubade
Michael R. Burch

Misty morning sunlight hails the dawning of new day;
dreams drift into drowsiness before they fade away.
Dew drops on the green grass echo splendors of the sun;
the silence lauds a songstress and...

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Nowhere now, Geinere
awaited her day of 
unrightly judgment,
her only hopes of 
victory brought thoughts
of remorse and 
further difficulties
for herself and her dying
love.  No embrace
could be made.
Her silence would 
remain, for accusations
of such made, was...

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"What is wrong with me?" I keep asking. 
You would think that after all the nasty words and crying, 
the fist fights and after all the begging,
all the hating, and hiding knives so that I...

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Does prayer work? Or is it merely the placebo effect when things get better?Your mind convinces itself you are feeling better and you do. Your brain stimulates the immune system, helps fight off infection or...

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Hello girl,
Can I lie to you, can I say you wear the most beautiful smile
Like I never saw my mama wear a priceless version on my graduation
Can I tell you your face holds that “Eureka”...

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Achievement, 2 of 2
                         —Time to share—

I cried and bewailed 
while...

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Piano Teacher

 Adored her timely teaching skills
Adored the way she never yelled nor screamed!
 even when my Piano lesson bored the heck out of me and  
 my fingers hurt badly you see we...

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