Long Transitory Poems

Medieval Poems



Deor's Lament (Anglo Saxon poem, circa 10th century AD)
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Weland knew the agony of exile.
That indomitable smith was wracked by grief.
He endured countless troubles:
sorrows were his only companions
in his frozen...

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Sweet Rose of Virtue
by William Dunbar (c. 1460-1530)
loose translation/modernization/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

after William Dunbar

Sweet rose of virtue and of gentleness,
delightful lily of youthful wantonness,
richest in bounty and in beauty clear
and in every virtue that...

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"The Faces of Man"



The faces of Man
transformative 
held in the hand 
of Mephistopheles 

blood sells white and red
pontificating with two fingers

consuming greed for 
want of everything
they meld into the
curves of their crooked bends

he’s come to...

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Humbleness
(Free Verse)

Humble is a man who prefers 
To take fresh air in his garden
Than waste his time in a pub,
To be dressed in simple clothing
Than in expensive high class dresses
That bursts a whole in his...

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You can feel it spinning
                              ...

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"Arrogance, a harmful disease,
                               ...

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“The Evolution of a Broken Heart”



In thy hands, 
I gently placed it

lacking hesitation’s pleas and virtues
‘twas ne’er a time to be uncourageous
plucked somewhere from deep within
my honorable, clean gilded home where
pure intention sat regally spartan
upon...

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An eerie wind blows through the decaying bushes on the outskirts,  
while a rusted door sways on its broken hinges.  
The smell of ozone lingers from thunder cracking in the distance,  
as...

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Lament for the Makaris ("Lament for the Makers/Poets")
by William Dunbar [c. 1460-1530]
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
 
i who enjoyed good health and gladness
am overwhelmed now by life’s terrible sickness
and enfeebled with infirmity ...
how the...

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(continued from, "An Epistle Warning against Melancholia: an Allegory--Part I," where somewhere in late 18th-century Europe a friend, Laetitia, by way of a letter warns her beloved girlfriend, Euphoria--a young, gay and unsuspecting mistress--against the...

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Dear America.

I still believe in you.
No, I'm not saying that I always believe in the people that make up America.               ...

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I was born in everlasting springtime, as happenstance often does to others,
Like natural green halls wherein joy sings, to its wilder sisters and brothers.

I was situated in mellowed sunshine, like a colorful ship on the...

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Direct clay was turned into required elements
parts, sections, groups, classes in proportion
to set in every function in as pottery style,
osteoblasts turned into bones to form the cage,
limes were to join each point of the body...

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When I was little I sang in the choir 
There were Quakers and Methodists
Catholic school friends, there were Jewish
Friends  and dinners and the chanting
of Buddhist monks.  Om Shanti. my own
Prayer chants created in...

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My Special Thoughts & Prayer: (Poem)
https://youtu.be/Yqzmo82MOlI
OH ! Allah AlMighty i pray to you today 
From inner course of my pure heart and pure soul 
some thoughts come in my mind,
The sole meaning of life is...

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Neti Neti, I am not the Body
Neti Neti, I am not the Mind
If I am not the Body and Mind
Who am I? This must be defined
Tat Twam Asi, I am the Divine Soul, I find

If...

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2011, the modern year, coming closed
         in 2012, and passive fat assed American apathy
strangles feeling from the esophagus, **** it.

    I choke, cough out...

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It's quiet here - quiet in a way that catches me off guard. The tranquility is almost tangible, something I can touch and hold and wrap around myself. I can hear the pulse of faraway...

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Waking moments with the strong aroma of coffee percolating throughout the house, I arise.
Drifting through the morning mists, I find my way to the kitchen where the hearth-fire
embers, still warm from the night, glow orange...

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As rippling horizon
douses fiery orb,
you are at your
most alluring.

Ethereal,
diaphanous limbs
stretch out,
reach for me,
beckon to me.
Barely audible murmurs,
laced with
forbidden promises,
cross the distance
between us.

Whispers become
more insistent,
more urgent,
more pressing.
Begging, cajoling,
pleading, coercing,
demanding that I come to you,
that I give...

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We were miserable and exhausted by the rife. 
We leave the severe planet to fight for itself. 
Be patient, though! We admit in another life. 
Will toss the earth; however, we will not strife.
 
We...

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 Avidya
(A Sanskrit word)
(Means false knowledge)

It is deep rooted
misunderstanding
of ourselves which gives
rise to several
root causes of woe.
~X~X~X~


We are unique

Though we're aware, but forget rather we ignore
the reality; think our friends will be with us
in need;...

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The ABC's of Politics (For Better or Words)
(SMILE!  They aren’t misspelled.)

Aboulomania.  Bahadur.  Caducity.  Dapatical.  Ecmnesia.  Fabulist.  Gerrymander.  
Highbinder.  Ideopraxist.  Jobbery.  Kakistocracy.  Lucripetous. ...

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The Visitor

I don't know what it was that woke me, just a vague feeling of movement
In the early pre-dawn darkness at the bottom of the bed.
I could just make out the curtains blowing idly round...

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It was on the 21st August 2013 that I heard you whimpering in the corner of a tin shed,
As I paced ahead with bated breath,
I found you battling for life with face injuries and broken...

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