Long Softest Poems

Sappho fragment #155
translation by Michael R. Burch 

A short revealing frock?
It's just my luck
your lips were made to mock!

*

Sappho fragment #156
translation by Michael R. Burch 

She keeps her scents
in a dressing-case.
And her sense?
In some undiscoverable...

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Zen Death Haiku

Brittle cicada shell,
little did I know
you were my life!
—Shuho, translation by Michael R. Burch

Returning
as it came,
this naked worm.
—Shidoken, translation by Michael R. Burch

As dew glistens
on a lotus leaf,
so too I soon must vanish.
—Shinsui,...

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These are translations of some of the oldest Japanese waka, which evolved into tanka, renga and haiku. 

While you decline to cry,
high on the mountainside
a single stalk of plumegrass wilts.
—O no Yasumaro (circa 711), translation...

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Date:  July  2049

The expanse of the sky was darkness.
End of July 11 pm.  Dolly Molly
And Holly were keeping an all night
Party pleasant  pressureless delight.
Dolly grabbed the remote for the
Plasma 54" TV....

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Three Tribute poems--  composed by me,

For Longfellow blog….

(1.)

Glory Of Faith's Triumphant Golden Crowns



The rays of morn took their first golden breath

Dispersing powers of night's darkling mists

First gleams romancing sweet the earthen shores

Beating back dark...

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O’ my dearest love,  
I gather the world’s rarest petals for you—  
Ghost Orchid fragrance lingers  
in the marsh’s quiet air  

look, love, it fades  
then rises in  
the...

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In the May-time of my life
time bloomed each day a prickly boll –
but I, like the softest cotton within such a sharp seed  
swaddled in the purity of security 
for what seemed like eternity...

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My eyes couldn’t help 
But wander 
And smile at every passing inch 

Aimlessly following the walls 
And your voice 
Throughout the house you lay your head at night 

It was cozy 
Decorated delicately 
In memories...

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Steal the Kiss, By Wily Means


She had just turned 17 and I had loved her since she was fifteen!
She had long, long dark brown hair, was prettier than newborn pups and had a smile that...

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Sounding like the goosebump tickles,
on the edges of naked breath,
awaiting the solace of prickly feelings
hesitant as the gossamer gentling
each hue of delicate blossoms and blooms,
each bud caressed by the night’s quiet dew…

Glistening like the star...

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In your eyes, reflected to me
are memories of beautiful,
trembling pieces of laughing hope
still colors of grace and belief
feelings pouring from the shadows
never just make believe
always like the wonder of quiet faith
the struggle between knowing
and just...

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I often sit for long periods of time
hoping the perfect beginning will come to me.
To write a poem that starts with a pristine Capital
leaving readers with great expectations.

But after much torment, with not a fleck...

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You had that future retro look:  two thousand seventeen,
There was a slow and sultry permanence, a little slouchy lean
As you eased out of the taxi before it shot off to the right,
Who could have...

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I spin, faster and faster…    
losing control, I am a propeller rising.
Once, you were my mystery to solve,
my gift to unwrap -
my challenge, my highest vista to climb.
You lifted me to your...

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Wind sings praise, and the wings who soar
silent adoration – soft as the light
climbing the skies, breathless and alive
rising in murmurings who bless the night
mounting impressions of the sea’s gentle tides,
flowing with worship, admiring the...

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First version 



As Midnight Moon Shines Upon Her Eyes 


In a dream world where fantasies abound 
shall be where my princess is found
Wrapped in her vision an angelic choir
cherubs singing her heart's desire
Her voice soothes...

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>center>Jaime was such a lonely boy and this he couldn't understand?
                    He didn't possess one harmful...

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A raw dark, persuaded by rusty leaves
	who break through the hushed prayers,
		vibrant hopes and dreams,
			stirring light that lives beneath the heavens,
	confiding joy, revealing wonders, confessing
		swaying branches, havens
			for hurried squirrels and clever wrens,
cardinals in scarlet cloaks,...

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When the soul stirs from the silence,
	Like tears, trembling with yearnings,
		So deep, so powerful, flowing soundlessly,
			On rivers of muted reflections, intimate…

on hearts, resting, remembering, resulting
	in melodies, tunes – songs of healing and hope,
		destinies rising from...

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Candied dreams, burning away the twilight
Sandcastle memories, taken 
By the softest glow of a Southern moon,
Coloring the thoughts in reflections of sincerest
Beauty, rising like the breathless winds
Roaring through the pines, whispering sighs,
Risking moments bought by...

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Genesis 4:12 (KJV) “When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.”

Yesterday spreads its wings…
Across the timeless expanse of...

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trees tremble, quietly
	in the laughter of sweet winds
		leaves rustling, waltzing, twisting
			through the fresh noon gentleness
abiding in my spirit, the stirrings 
of a hesitant dream…

predictions of glowing silence in the moonlight
whimsical stars, breaking through the heat
of...

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I enjoyed traveling greatly, and I had been countless places,
Like lovely fireflies of twilight, on their mellow moonlit races.

On my time away from work, I often went someplace exotic,
Like astronauts out in space, viewing galaxies...

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"Poetry is a life-cherishing force. For poems are not words, after all, but fires for the cold, ropes let down to the lost, something as necessary as bread in the pockets of the hungry." Mary...

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Showering white light illuminates 
  Bright-Moon Bay;
   In the overlooking Moon-Inviting Pavilion,
 Li Bai had raised his twinkling, rich amber
Coloured wineglass
    To invite the same reticent Moon.  ...

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