Long Transcendence Poems

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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Southern Icarus
by Michael R. Burch

Windborne, lover of heights,
unspooled from the truck’s wildly lurching embrace,
you climb, skittish kite...

What do you know of the world’s despair,
gliding in vast solitariness there,
so that all that remains is to
fall?

Only a...

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Poems about Butterflies and Bees



Flight
by Michael R. Burch

It is the nature of loveliness to vanish
as butterfly wings, batting against nothingness
seek transcendence...



Album
by Michael R. Burch

I caress them—trapped in brittle cellophane—
and I see how young they were,...

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Poems about Flight, Flying, and Birds (I)



Flight
by Michael R. Burch

It is the nature of loveliness to vanish
as hummingbird wings, batting against nothingness
seek transcendence...



Southern Icarus
by Michael R. Burch

Windborne, lover of heights,
unspooled from the truck’s wildly lurching...

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Red light, the neon beer sign on the distant wall reflects off the long expanse of polished bar top, overpowering the quiet brown wood. It’s after lunch, only a few people in to stir the...

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To my sisters,
and narrow-way brothers,
in Jesus Christ
as Supreme UnitingWealthyStates
sustainable legal/moral Savior

I reached U.S. voting age during the 70s.
During this time,
the Religious Right
and Republican Party Center
were about the same place;
not distinguishable,
inscrutable, perhaps.

In strong conserving defense of...

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8. Transformation

Yielding to those who have mastered the art
Of grasping one's place in existence's grand scheme
Life’s constant challenges never depart
But humble diligence will grow the dream

In passing from childhood to adulthood
Innocence to responsibility
Firm new role...

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Ghosts of the Sun Dance

1. The Path

A quest dating back through our history
Surpassing the flesh, a spiritual path
Human endurance, road to mystery
Dark trail winding through the gardens of wrath

It echoes through me, this deep ambition
Half...

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China Tour Diary Moment #1
--------------------------------

KUNMING THOUGHTS


Sunday morning flight to Kunming city;
East bound to explore vignettes of China;
New vistas to sight, postcard memories;
Feast visual galore on tour agenda.

Yunnan province greets our earthly landing;
Brisk clearance and we...

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Fear haunted me, taunted me, daunted me. I was not the overcomer, but the overcome. Fear played with me the way a kitten might toy with a mouse, eventually leaving the mouse despondent, discouraged, darkened...

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Back with poetry vengeance,
Don’t fear this, Transcendence 
Or from the Abyss?
Elohim’s Prince,
Or a Demonic Word Smith with written myths? 
These flames destroy man’s deceitful tactics and machines,
Once seen……. 
Story Rhymes dreamt and told, 
To the...

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To awaken means to realize one’s own nothingness, that is, to realize one’s complete and absolute helplessness. As long as a man is not horrified at himself, he knows nothing about himself.
Through the labyrinth of...

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Further post-millennial dialogue with Abraham Heschel:

"The problem of our youth is not youth.
The problem is the [learning] spirit of our age:
denial of transcendence [in our homes and schools],
the vapidity of [learning] values,
[competing] emptiness in the...

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Spore your appreciation, edification, information...,
orchestration, and utilization,
a moss fungi (fun guy) attests his marriage
synonymous with symbiotic relationship.

Nostalgic acquiescence about fictitious life,
oblivescence about current travails
and reminiscence about
transcendence into utopia
prompts me to revisit livingsocial,
now that yours truly
among...

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Man is the only creature that refuses to be what it is,
An immortal soul trapped in mortal flesh, a dreamer wandering through unknown realms,
Searching for hidden treasures and uncharted miracles under the starry sky of...

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The original Independence declarations
of the late 1700s
were born from a West European colonizing
and North American creolizing immigration wave
knowing and exploring a God of EnLightenment,
opposed to dark evils of inherited entitlements
to monopolies of economic health-hoarding and...

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into the depths of the bell jar

In quiet solitude
    on an autumn night
    i drifted through
    a quotidian quagmire.

fleeting thoughts of stillness
    sparked...

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YESHUA
His name was Yeshua, the legitimate, not immaculate,
scion of a young Jewish couple named Miriam and Yosef and surely
a brown-haired, brown-eyed Middle-Eastern man, sun-bathed and beige,
raised in the traditions of Abraham and Moses, David and...

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Speak
by Faiz Ahmad Faiz
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Speak, while your lips are still free.
Speak, while your tongue remains yours.
Speak, while you're still standing upright.
Speak, while your spirit has force.

See how, in the bright-sparking forge,...

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In the valley 
I'm down on my haunches 
with the tall grass whispering around me,
enveloped like I was wrapped in a blanket
I listen to the mournful dirges 
of my scattered brothers and sisters
filling the skies...

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In the quiet corridors of my mind, where thoughts flow like rivers through ancient valleys,
I ponder the nature of wars and the battles fought not for land, but for the dominion of words.
Language, the most...

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We are evolving towards a higher level of conscience! all of us
You and me 
There is no escaping this truth 
There are no poles to climb out of this reality. 
We are in a changing...

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Is it Hanukkah 
Or Chanukah 
Both are correct
It depends if you use the Latin or Hebrew dialect 

Regardless of what you say
The meaning is the same both here and far away 
It is an eight...

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Since the ancient Greeks, the West has developed individuality as an ideal; this led to many good things like democracy, political rights and creativity. But it has also created a great stress on people: once...

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HE WAS NEVER A CHRISTIAN!

His name was Yeshua, the legitimate, not immaculate,
scion of a young Jewish couple named Miriam and 
Yosef and surely an olive-skinned, brown-haired, brown-eyed
Middle-Eastern man of medium height, raised in the traditions...

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