Long Thorned Poems

These are peace poems, prayer poems, hymns and lullabies I have written for family, friends and the world over the years ...

Peace Prayer
by Michael R. Burch

for Jim Dunlap

Be calm.
Be still.
Be silent, content.

Be one with the...

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.                          NOW

Well, GI Jack is welcome back, he left his...

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Poems for Poets VIII


Fireflies
thinking to illuminate the darkness?
Poets!
—Michael R. Burch


BeMused
by Michael R. Burch

You will find in her hair
a fragrance more severe
than camphor.

You will find in her dress
no hint of a sweet
distractedness.

You will find in her...

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POEMS FOR POETS X

US Verse, after Auden
by Michael R. Burch

“Let the living creature lie,
Mortal, guilty, but to me
The entirely beautiful.”

Verse has small value in our Unisphere,
nor is it fit for windy revelation.
It cannot legislate less...

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One fine morning, I went to the farm,                           ...

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Sire she's been sighted
two miles south of Sinai,
our sentinels say she has brought a river,
her baggage train stretches into the ancient sands,
the envoys of her retinue spoke of marvelous gifts,
beasts and creatures of the Orient
gems...

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Because She Craved the Very Best
by Michael R. Burch
 
Because she craved the very best,
he took her East, he took her West;
he took her where there were no wars
and brought her bright bouquets of stars,
the...

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The taste of you is still sharp on my tongue.
Beside me your form, vulnerable in sleep, 
Unaware of the stroke of my hand along your spine.
All day I gaze at the gentle swell of my...

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Since she is here with me 

Here upon uncharted land
I wander as I please
Silence comes the morning sun
now streaming through the trees

Destinations carry me
along a sorted way
Down the path to anywhere
on any given day

Corners I...

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In life, we tend to hide behind a false garb of compromise

Then twisted in disguise with falsehood in lies
Vanquished yet torn at its seams dealing with mean,

Thorned twisted yet miserable in dire blackened flasks of...

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Hand in hand, traversing this garden
  bare feet felt the tingle of grass and vine
emerald green and lively sprawling growth
  delicate breeze gently blew swaying branches 
leaves danced in rhythmic praise to the...

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The Tortured Cuckoo

Delivered-bewildered and confused, onto a foliage. No direction from those empowered to parent so  weak a fledgling.   Clawed and pecked for being, an easy release of pent-up frustration upon defenceless...

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Autumn day's goldenrays seap through heaven's gentle blues
                    Shading, tangled leaves fire colors,autumn's unfallen few
It's flowered...

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~
The stones were many, 
though still he climbed, 
dismantling the mortar crusted wall,
leaving rubble in his wake
as he made his way to the top
Breathless, this world beyond 
the border clung to its silence, 
imprisoned by...

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Have I mentioned how difficult it is
Being an artist
At a kids’ fair
That’s so nice you’re
Incredible you should
Keep it up
They walk by and I
Make my living on
Sweet words and
Sorry eyes because
I’m good but
Nobody cares, nobody
Comes back...

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Oh my beautiful Daughters
what have you done to the men of the Earth,
turning the roar of men's' love into notes of shame and whispers,
discoloring the gallant glow of trust with untempered lust for popular worth,

I...

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A child is born,
Unknown to the gentle and harsh winds of the present.
She is loved,
She is cared, 
She is smiled upon.
She crawled the floor we stepped on,
She walked the grass we trampled on,
She did not...

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Hypocrisy within the Village Flock

As the seasons of my life changes, glorious it may not be!!
Valley bells summons the flock to chapel.
Heavily polished Pews squeak, as Village flock take their seats.
Distant ghostly voices ring out...

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I lay hear pricked and sickened by a thorned rose, those lips of poison with no 
antidote. Petals withering dying  just like my heart..yet..

He dosn't know...

I shudder under his eyes lurking with a smirk...

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I was lost

Wandering among the lonely,
searching for the smile I lost
Rain still follows my endeavor,
spending clouds to heed my cost

Flowers bloom though fragile petals,
hide behind the thorned abyss
Reaching in my skin is tattered
of this one...

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Trapped in the same month
for what seems like half a century
The page never turns, it goes on and on
words never seem to run dry, dripping off the page
leaving one inquiry for another day
Wide eyed and...

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Be that as it may..,


WIthin every heart their beats a sweet melody..,

For many are torn amidst it's true subject matter..,
Oft' why do we even think nor seem to bother ?
With pen on paper,

Nor a stereo...

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Moving out feels much sadder
than moving in, more gladder--
which is poor grammar
for severance of love's embodied glamour.

Packing up
feels more like packing in
and down,
cutting ties with my own stage,
this playful working space,
for everyday self
and other witnessing...

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Thrice divided am I in why. Fighting my flight response with determination to make 
might right. No slight of hand or devilish spite. Plain and right, the soul's trident. Lack of 
action spites my plight....

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Disappointment


My father's signature has been forged for I know his hand
Greed for squandering have made you fall to your lowest ebb
My temples blasted at the shame that we are of the same blood
I choked to...

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