Long Warriors Poems

Sic semper evello mortem tyrannis, high bred poiet?s of mine

     ("Thus always I cause the death of tyrants.”)
the purported line Brutus uttered 
after assassinating Julius Caesar.

     Alternatively...

Read More

Sappho fragment #155
translation by Michael R. Burch 

A short revealing frock?
It's just my luck
your lips were made to mock!

*

Sappho fragment #156
translation by Michael R. Burch 

She keeps her scents
in a dressing-case.
And her sense?
In some undiscoverable...

Read More

"Open Oceans"



Kneeling on pearls
wisdom preys

praying
preying

hungry hearts
count the days 

wasting away
in all that preying 

for prayers 
to be answered

children become
strangers

reading 
strange words

finding 
themselves puzzled

genuflecting to a deity
they do not know, nor wish to

fumbling
mouths closed,

swallowed hole
in the...

Read More

The first soft snow: 
leaves of the awed jonquil 
bow low
—Matsuo Basho translation by Michael R. Burch

Come, investigate loneliness! 
a solitary leaf
clings to the Kiri tree
—Matsuo Basho translation by Michael R. Burch

The cheerful-chirping cricket
contends gray...

Read More

Juvenilia: Early Poems X

These are early poems written in my teens and twenties.

Regret
by Michael R. Burch

Regret,
a bitter
ache to bear...

once starlight
languished
in your hair...

a shining there
as brief
as rare.

Regret,
a pain
I chose to bear...

unleash
the torrent
of your hair...

and show me
once...

Read More

Nemesis, Confrontation And The Rejoined Battle,
Now Completed


(Nemesis) - Part One

O'lord of blight dare thee to now abide
Leaving thy abode to earthen realm ride
As punisher with dark universal might
As grief bearer, humanity to smite!

Dar'est thee enter,...

Read More

Do you share my concern 
that your happiness and healthy life 
are too ephemeral,
short-lived?

No! Why? Do you know something I should know?

Not likely.
Just wondering,
awed by your capacity,
your relentlessly positive 
EarthAgapic energy for healthy life,
despite the...

Read More

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...

Read More

The problem of military reactions
to territorial control issues
is not merely that violence breeds further strategic development
of violence,
although this is no small,
nor amoral, 
concern.

This primal problem of militarism by historic default
is that it is an intrinsically...

Read More

Turkish Poetry Translations II

Çanakkale Sehitlerine
"For the Çanakkale Martyrs"
by Mehmet Akif Ersoy
loose English translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Was there ever anything like the Bosphorus war??
The earth’s mightiest armies pressing Marmara,
Forcing entry between her mountain passes
To a...

Read More

“Warrior” 

When the Argonauts, came across 
the abandoned Starship, they 
found within the wrecked 
command console, a DNA code
with encrypted message. 
It took several attempts to 
reactivate, but when opened, 
the following was translated: ...

Read More

Medieval Poem V

A Proverb from Winfred's Time
anonymous Old English poem, circa 757-786
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

1.
The procrastinator puts off purpose,
never initiates anything marvelous,
never succeeds, and dies alone.

2.
The late-deed-doer delays glory-striving,
never indulges daring dreams,
never succeeds,...

Read More

A prayer for God to bless Americans,
whether northern or southern,
is also a reminder of traditional political mindfulness,
basic awareness of our economic investments 
in global health and security.

No one "keeps" these northern confederations 
of uniting states...

Read More

Winter Awakens My Care
anonymous Middle English poem, circa 1300
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Winter awakens all my care
as leafless trees grow bare.
For now my sighs are fraught
whenever it enters my thought:
regarding this world's joy,
how everything...

Read More

The Song of Amergin: Modern English Translations

The Song of Amergin
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

I am the sea breeze
I am the ocean wave
I am the surf's thunder
I am the stag of the seven tines
I am...

Read More

Translation with commentary of an archetypal Wild West Classic : " Summer Wine "

(I'd wage my bottom diamond dime future generations will re-discover and treasure this true American classic like only a few others of...

Read More

You.
Reading this.
Right now.
Proof you have descended
from an unbroken powerful line 
of politically and economically successful
Elders.

If we define “powerful Elder”
as those who have had political and economic authority over another,
responsibility for at least one or more...

Read More

As I look back across more musical times
of rhythmic reflections,
ceremonies and commemorations
of each dawn and dusk eremitic liturgy,
if that is not an oxymoron
of sound and sight,
song and dance,
tragically sad, yet also bilaterally bound with happier...

Read More

~ In  His   Light  ~
 (  Mirrored Hourglass  )



~O~
 


 Love   Worship  Pray  Trust  the Lord

 Lord won't leave you alone

 His mercy will...

Read More

Wovoka in the Feverland

In the Dying-Grass Moon came another winter to claim the old and sick.
This was when the first messengers came
To the desolation known as Pine Ridge.
They came riding in at the end of...

Read More

~God Is Lord~
 (Jay's Way)


 God is Lord
 With Him I can do it all
 Sees me thru everything and each time I fall
 With God by side there's none I should fear
 He always...

Read More

The world is constantly changing 
People are steadily rearranging 
Life seems to be a gigantic nightmare 
Keep moving, but never getting there 

This country was built on the backs of slaves 
Our ancestors buried in...

Read More

These are prophetic poems and apocalyptic poems about the earth, climate change, global warming, extinction events, and mankind's role on an endangered world ...



Polish
by Michael R. Burch

Your fingers end in talons?
the ones you trim to...

Read More

EarthMama Invites

Without RightDaddy Dominance,
Left EcoMama
and Her still innocent suppressed Children,
share no opposing WinLose
assuming
internalized voices,
just anxious and angry
and fearful feelings
about LoseLose
ZeroZone,
ego and Earth
matriarchal-line 
extinguished.

Because all RightBrain feeling voices
and chemistries
are outside Sacred NatureSpirit
experientially
regeneratively 
cooperative
Patriarchal/Matriarchal Voices
secular and sacred...

Read More

Deor's Lament

(Old English/Anglo-Saxon poem circa the 10th century AD)
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Weland endured the agony of exile:
an indomitable smith wracked by grief.
He suffered countless sorrows;
indeed, such sorrows were his bosom companions
in that frozen...

Read More