Long Wantonness Poems

Medieval Poems



Wulf and Eadwacer
(Old English circa 990 AD)
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

My people pursue him like crippled prey.
They'll rip him apart if he approaches their pack.
We are so different!

Wulf's on one island; I'm on...

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Dream of Infinity
by Michael R. Burch

Have you tasted the bitterness of tears of despair?
Have you watched the sun sink through such pale, balmless air
that your soul sought its shell like a crab on a beach,
then...

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Poems about Poems V

Distances
by Michael R. Burch

There is a small cleanness about her,
as though she has always just been washed,
and there is a dull obedience to convention
in her accommodating slenderness
as she feints at her salad.

She...

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Sonnets XXV-XXXII

Archaischer Torso Apollos (“Archaic Torso of Apollo”)
by Rainer Maria Rilke
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

We cannot know the beheaded god
nor his eyes' forfeited visions. But still
the figure's trunk glows with the strange vitality
of a...

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My most popular poems on the Internet (I)

A number of my poems and translations have gone viral, according to Google, and some have been copied onto hundreds to thousands of web pages. That’s a lot...

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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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There is no argument from myself here, friend, 

If anything, that you can, and do appreciate; just as much as you are applying yourself towards these "seven" efforts' below, that is helpful to all parties...

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POEMS ABOUT EROS AND CUPID

These are translations of ancient Greek poems about Eros. Eros was the Greek counterpart of the Roman god Cupid. While today we tend to think of Cupid as an angelic cherub...

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These are poems about starlight and moonlight, moons and stars, dreams and visions, illuminations and intimations …



Will There Be Starlight
by Michael R. Burch 

Will there be starlight
tonight
while she gathers
damask
and lilac
and sweet-scented heathers?

And will she find...

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PRINCESS DIANA POEMS

Fairest Diana: an Epitaph for Princess Diana
by Michael R. Burch

Fairest Diana, princess of dreams,
born to be loved and yet distant and lone,
why did you linger?so solemn, so lovely?
an orchid ablaze in a crevice...

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No matter what you've done
 in the past
I was in Idolatry, greed, covetousness, love of money, 
I was Complaining, not loving God full of gluttony, 
High-mindedness, disobedience, lover of self, 
GOD LOVES ME

I put family,...

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You died for our equal treatment, and we demand "affirmative action."

You died for integration, and we justify segregation when we throw public brawls and destroy property.

You died to stop the Klan and the supremacists from...

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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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If I am Syrian, what of it?
Stranger, we all dwell in one world, not its portals.
The same original Chaos gave birth to all mortals.
—Meleager translation by Michael R. Burch

Love, how can I call on you;
does...

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POEMS ABOUT SCIENCE 6: EVOLUTION

Singularity
by Michael R. Burch

Are scientists confounded like the ostrich?
Heads buried in the sand, they shout, *Preposterous!*
This universe, so magical, they say,
proves there’s no God. But let’s look anyway ...

He said, *Let...

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What is Poetry?

It is a theosophy of thought and commentary;  
transposed euphemisms of life’s temporal moments;
It is an attempt to fractalize single ideas and envelop them
with metaphorical symbols reinterpreted and played with.

It is an...

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Poems for Poets VII



Sweenies (or Swine-ies) Among the Nightingales
by Michael R. Burch

(for the Corseted Ones and the Erratics)

Open yourself to words, and if they come,
be glad the stone-tongued apes are stricken dumb
by anything like music;...

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MY SIN IS GREAT BUT GOD'S GRACE IS GREATER

My sin is great but
God's grace is greater
Your sin is great but
God's grace is greater
I may have been a idolater, greedy,  in covetousness, gluttony
Complaining, not loving...

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Humpty Dumpty starred in a nursery rhyme…
His fall accordingly was the talk at that time
Soon it was labeled as a mysterious crime
Needing solution thru wisdom’s prime!

Here am I submitting my document
Compliant to prudent investigative requirement.
The...

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Sweet Rose of Virtue 
by William Dunbar [1460-1525]
translation by Michael R. Burch

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

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Out of my fire chain of mind I shall speak once and no more. degrees unfold the eternal prophets with strokes from the silent hammer., and life and light are frozen. the church deformity has...

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I once knew what it feels like to lose myself in the fantasy that is Love
My thoughts would be filled only with her, her smile, her touch, her everything
I’d lose track of time staring at...

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Poor, Poor Casanova



Once in a time,
 in a place known as Umbria.
Spied dist I, oh grand lake!
Trasimeno ,Trasimeno

Twas said,” oh So many roman soldiers 
were slain here in some long forgotten war.”
Unto the waters sleep...

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Money is better than barter
Money is better than share
Money takes you further than you dare
Though hands,  not money built my walls
Hands put together materials to paint my hall
Metals I dug came before all.

I fell...

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Leave free agents alone
Bully
For they’ve got no time to be the clone
You hurt truly and deeply

In games without aim
Where you torture and suture at will
Treating victims the same
Way happiness you steal

To boost your roost
Bereft of...

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