Long Subdued Poems

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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I.	  The Settlement

          Hickory bark bluffs
          at the blend of two 
    ...

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Winter Awakens My Care
anonymous Middle English poem, circa 1300
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Winter awakens all my care
as leafless trees grow bare.
For now my sighs are fraught
whenever it enters my thought:
regarding this world's joy,
how everything...

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Introduction: once again I incorporate 
my trademark penchant 
to fabricate fictitiously
portions of the following poetic endeavor
can you care to 
discern fact from fiction?

Attempts at lifelong friendships and holy matrimony...

Shot thru with figuratively cankerous nub,
cuz yours...

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The Game of Hockey 

By Government decree, lacrosse
Is Canada’s national sport,
But in the hearts and minds of Canadians,
Hockey rules supreme.
Hockey is a winter sport enjoyed by Canadians since 1875,
When the game was first played, on...

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The Rhymed Poem aka The Rhyming Poem and The Riming Poem
Old English Poem (i.e., Anglo-Saxon Poem) from the Exeter Book, ca. 990 AD
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

He who granted me life created this sun
and...

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The Rhymed Poem aka The Rhyming Poem and The Riming Poem - Part II
anonymous Old English Poem from the Exeter Book, circa 990 AD
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

He who granted me life created this...

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This is an unfinished Heroic Crown of Sonnets dedicated to a friend's grandchild who was born with serious lower body issues 3 years ago...but he is so perfect and beautiful in every other way that...

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My receptive wide adoring eyes rested within the ambient light and bathed in The Shadoe and shade of the scene
Where before me a paragon of sublime refined  beauty 
So sensually seductively and arousingly delightful...

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At first, it wasn't my father's Oldsmobile.
Then, there came a longing for a new identity
with an invasion of one morphing after another.
Next thing I knew, there was 'no' Oldsmobile.
It seems that so many things started...

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Ma,
Why do I need to apostrophize you? Why did you flew away into the celestial regions so earlier? Is it because you are from a land where ‘twenty is plenty’ for women? And hence, ignoring...

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East west north or south which way should I go?
East West north or south, I just want to sing and shout
We have just had a nice little shower,
To cool down the boiling temperature, 
but it...

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His walk into town would prove fateful that day,
As his mind wandered idly while finding his way.
His footsteps were brisk like fall chill in the air,
Past Wellington Gate, south of Denby town square.

He paused for...

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“They are in the cabin of the Sleigh.”
The Elder Elf motioned to  Rådyrvokter to join them.  He stopped unharnessing the deer and stepped over to Dyndoeth.  In a whispered tone he requested...

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I am just a nobody with no fortune and no fame,
But rich in ways many others wouldn't ever think to claim.
Among His many blessings, I'm blessed with a Gift to create,
To share with and touch...

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A bug upon a green leaf sat
Cautiously eyeing up a cat
Who, unaware of the bug's intentions
Continued with its cruel conventions:
Of catching a mouse then setting it free
Then leaping up it once more with glee
Until the...

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They met at the foot of the tree when the temperature was minus zero degrees, the wind was blowing, the trees were shaking, and her body was subdued in the cold. She has been living...

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Together we are like crisp morning snow and dry sooty oil poured onto the ground in our different ways. I putter around the home like puppy dog waiting for his next meal and she toils...

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But we of the Three Tribes live undiscovered 
   In the reverberating stillness of the 
 Three Gorges...
And are therefore unknown to the warring mongol;
    His impassioned lusts -- his...

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Day in, day out… I’m here
softly walking down 
the corridors of your mind
a seductress in search of the room
where you hide your heart

The train of my lace gown trails behind me
my bare feet hardly making...

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And I begin my own steep climb into 
The Chalkland Downs                        ...

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1. Fields of much promise, but no grass and no soil
the world not so round getting flat and shapeless
necks stretched for faces to look up to heaven
and arms open for a new salvation song.
But God...

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Once within eternal Time
a coffee ground
of full-spectral 
spacious consciousness,
Might sink in cold water cups

Yet rise to surface in warm oil sublime
joyously buoyant juice

Happiest to float atop
a hierarchy of divinely positioned selection
station
static inquisition

Yet again, 
to an...

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I was a solemn person by nature, so my demeanor was always dignified,
Like the somber moon of nighttide, that sees vaguest dreams magnified.

Oh, I enjoyed having a good time, only I showed it in different...

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I woke  up this morning  at a quarter to three
and  went outside to pray a prayer for thee
My heart was light and my Spirit felt free 
as I walked optimistically down nostalgic...

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