Long Vales Poems

Juvenilia: Early Poems VII

These are early poems I wrote as a boy and as a teenager.

The Leveler
by Michael R. Burch

The nature of Nature
is bitter survival
from Winter’s bleak fury
till Spring’s brief revival.

The weak implore Fate;
bold men...

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Quietly, the memory of my grandfather manifested itself,
In the colors and shimmers of the Holy Spirit, 
I saw his human face,
The familiar lines, the flesh,
The pair of oceanic eyes, slowly blinking 
Smiling,
Like a heavenly beam
Splashing...

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PART 1:          THE MEETING

Alone one night neath lantern light, I trudged a weary mile.
Forlorn, I went with shoulders bent (the storms around me howled)
until I met...

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The year has finally yawned and turned       
Upon a half-revealed shoulder.
A vibrancy, intrinsic to a reemerging 
Enforcement of the strengthening light, 
In its deliberate and unconcerned   ...

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THE DEATH OF A YOUNG KING . . .

Eight of the strongest and, bravest the of warriors; were collected in all
Each chosen for their strength; each of the same height, and, their gaul

Their task was...

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Do not vainly look in those remote
Places,
That, once, were acquainted with a 
Small part of me;                   ...

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Written on 10 September 2023 For:
Vanilla Poetry Contest
Sponsored by Charlotte Puddifoot


                        ...

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(Inspired by the film: 'The Fall of the Roman Empire')

She was with him

   in the great gore of battle....

Where skulls legion were cracked

   and limbs hewn from sword,

   ax...

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Yspirfal across the sky
Awake now with a loving light
For I have summoned thee with song
And I have shaped thee to belong
In facets of eternal night
Where alor hath made the dim seem bright
Hyspirfael there beams a...

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Ruth
Whose mudhouse is in silent dale?
Who liveth in lane so desolate?
Is this the house of saddest Ruth?
From madding world thus isolate
 
Oh I've seen her in cornfield
She picks the sheaves of corn with girls
Which gems...

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at the beginning earth was a place uninhabitable 
to any living thing, it was nothing but a furiously 
burning wandering fireball in an immeasurable open space

while wandering in space, 
however, hit by the meteoric showers,...

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Dew
Soul of morn, at night thou sleep
Then dance in mead on blooms on grass
The pearls and diamonds  all there weep
Thy shining sheen them all surpass 
Thou kiss the Green green vales and hills
Thy love...

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The protoplanetary phase
of nebulae sidereal
occurs in astral later days
before the stage ethereal
when cloud impressions like Monets
create new star material.

At edge of inky Coalsack cloud,
nebula Caldwell Ninety-nine,
amidst the murk of dusty shroud,
PPN stellar redesign
with brilliance beauteous...

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I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead;
I lift my lids and all is born again.
I think I made you up inside my head.
-Sylvia Plath

I see no reason to rhyme, 
but an aching...

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What a hugging jollity and what jump delight
With "Golly! Everything!" deep in the night;
From hands-on packages---all there are---
Rippling ribbons fly out far!

Open that box, there; what've you got?
"All that I dreamed of, dreamed a lot!
Tickets...

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What a hugging jollity and what jump delight
With "Golly! Everything!" deep in the night;
From hands-on packages---all there are---
Rippling ribbons fly out far!

Open that box, there; what've you got?
"All that I dreamed of, dreamed a lot!
Tickets...

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Soul of morn ! at night Thou sleep
Then dance in mead on blooms on grass
The pearls and diamonds  all there weep
Thy shining sheen them all surpass 
Thou kiss the Green green vales and hills
Thy...

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To you, O women great, in obeisance, I bow,
For your primary forms of mother, sister, mate;
Full of love, patience, kindness and compassion, how,
The almighty has adorned you with goodness great;
As planners and arrangers, today, you...

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I sit on a chair facing a round table
    Bones weak, muscle aches- unable
    I lay my hands on my lap
    Thoughts of prayer, I grab
...

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Seeking and finding my own self has been my constant quest,
Like a traveler in the desert, my thirst has no rest;
Digging deep, my strength gets drenched, leaving me pitiable,
Wells within seem empty and void as...

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***At the bequest of a friend 
or two this poem is a 
continuation of Tennyson''s
 'Ulysses'; though I don't
expect much glory for this
write, it was one of my
finer poetic attempts; 
especially Tennyson who
I think was...

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I tell you I do not know you one from the others, who you are all standing 
there, be so kind as to name yourselves. (crime) who am I to cast out 
shadows, not even...

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The wind was blowing,
as the car was going,
across the hills ; across the vales
the night seemed young , as each nightbird sung 
to the moon there long and timeless tales.
Then, at midnight hour
the chauffeur rested,...

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No man's too small to hoist a helping hand,
Nor any a deed too small if well-meant,
Nor a task too tough for a noble end,
Mind can if means can't make a mighty dent.

A journey of a...

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An Old Battlefield ,  by Frank L. Stanton


The softest whisperings of the scented South,
And rust and roses in the cannon's mouth;

And, where the thunders of the fight were born,
The wind's sweet tenor in the...

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