Long Weeps Poems

I woke up in the middle of the night with tears running from my eyes. I woke up in the middle of the night because my spirit cries
It is not the tear that falls when...

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Auschwitz Rose
by Michael R. Burch
											
There is a Rose at Auschwitz, in the briar,
a rose like Sharon’s, lovely as her name.
The world forgot her, and is not the same.
I still love her and extend this sacred...

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Yosa Buson haiku translations

On the temple’s great bronze gong
a butterfly
snoozes.
?Yosa Buson, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Hard to describe:
this light sensation of being pinched
by a butterfly!
?Yosa Buson, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Not to worry...

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THIS WORLD OF DEW

This world? 
Moonlit dew
flicked from a crane's bill.
—Eihei Dogen Kigen, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Seventy-one?
How long
can a dewdrop last? 
—Eihei Dogen Kigen, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Dewdrops beading grass-blades
die before...

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Was I ever handsome in God’s eyes? When will I take…take…
When will I take flight?
I’m counting the days to see you fly so gracefully…in the aqua-blue sky
I can’t wait to see you take wing and...

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I was pushed to write this comparison after reading the poem on Byron by the souper poet Gary Bateman.
Wandering on internet I found the Byron's version of Francesca's words in CANTO V of Dante's Hell...

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“The History of a Wasted Mind”

 

What goes through the mind of a recidivist
Fist full of hate and hurt marking time
Fist full of history, got down with the dirt
The History of a Wasted Child
The History...

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Ghost Of Tsali Comes

Lost in mist and maze
Ghost of Tsali in the corn
River water runs

Colors of fall alive
“Til moon replaces sun
That’s when Tsali comes 

Corn roots cling to bone
As he tends the empty weirs
This spot...

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The tale below was carved one night
upon the stone, by candlelight
...most won’t believe, but some just might
.........most won’t believe, but some just might



            ...

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“Barking Up the Wrong Tree” 

ghost gums
shed their bark 
the min-min 
makes good use of it
papyrus, soft enough to 
imprint and write
thoughts, like the 
ripening welts of 
green ants 
small bites sting
subcutaneous and 
meridional, 
terra...

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Beneath a misty veil of ‘Euphoria’ by Calvin Klein, she dares to dream of acceptance in a world of wanna-be Literary Giants who are members of an elite writer’s group, as she drives along a...

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They say the one you think of last before sleep,
Is the one you care for the most— the one you wish to hold, admire, love…

The two of us…beings of bravery,
Had labored all the night, 
In...

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POTD 30th August 2018 

The gently swaying branches of the old oak should elicit calmness
And yet a sense of foreboding permeates the midnight air
Wild imaginings?  Or did shadows flit across the leaf strewn path?
No...

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Renee Vivien Translations


Song
by Renée Vivien
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

When the moon weeps,
illuminating flowers on the graves of the faithful,
my memories creep
back to you, wrapped in flightless wings.

It's getting late; soon we will sleep
(your eyes...

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Opa John

The caboose sits red—its iron spine cradles the earth like Atlas
rails stretching into nowhere. The stream murmurs softly
its voice threading through Ellie’s laughter like silver wire

"Do you see it?" I ask her my voice...

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Night Moods 

Stars weep, they cry in the night sky
for those who laugh in the light of day, 
yet, not with spirit, heart soul or eye.
They see not the game they play,
nor understand what laughter...

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You want emotion...
Tell me, ask me, beg me to show you my soul, my secret place where my muses dwell.
My living hell. The tainted sea of all me, so what...so you can wash in the...

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Far Away, Far Away

Children when you dream at night you may see an awesome sight!
Magic fairies in the dew near trilliums of snow white hue.
You must search within your dreams by the light of midnight...

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How deserted lies the city, once so full of people!
How like a widow is she, who once was great among the nations!
She who was queen among the provinces, has now become a slave.
Bitterly she weeps...

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(By Youth, Beauty, and Age)      

MISS YOU, BRO! 

To: My bro, The heaven, God’s Palace

Dear One, 

All the fights
That we had in the nights, 
Cross across my mind …
And now...

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In the shadow of time, my descendants,
Both the known and those hidden in the corridors of ages,
From the first generation to those yet to come,
Please listen to this epic,
From one who was and wished to...

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They say that God is clothed in white,
A throne of clouds, a robe of light.
The angels, too, in linen gleam,
Like snowflakes stepping through a dream.
The lamb is white, the dove is pale—
All heaven's cast in...

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11	Contracted in this state our marriage made
		And only far too late we recognize
		That gladly with Reptilian Flesh we’ve laid
		The veil torn away revealing eyes
		Of yellow flame exposéd we surmise
		Out from the darkened room these floating...

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Since I first put on the greasepaint, smooth as cream on morning toast, they said I had a gift for making people laugh. Natural as breathing. Effortless as falling. Born to perform like a bird...

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Hey Jude, love is like a butterfly - just let it be.
You've got a ticket to ride, go where you should be.
Love is a revolution it shall set you free.
Don't live a life of sorrow...

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