Long Whitely Poems

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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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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I came to AllSouls
looking for permanent sanctuary.

Sanctuary,
not only from a Rumpian absence of 
civility
and non-violent trust
and integrity
and compassion,
but also pro-actively for an orthodox health eco-school 
for learning to secure these passioned gifts
through cooperative
pro-active
co-arising practice.

A permanently...

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I.

Oh please, not to fade so fast into the afternoon
The one that is scattering in a goldenly swooning loneliness
The one that is shattering at a purply time of faintness
And the one whose wind is playing...

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ZEN DEATH HAIKU XI

These are my modern English translations of Japanese Zen Death Haiku. 

Above the garden
the camellia tree blossoms
whitely...
—Uejima Onitsura, loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Moonlit hailstones: 
the night hawks return.
—Uejima Onitsura, loose translation...

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October: I'm eighteen, shortcutting home
through an autumn-burnished churchyard -
copper-lustred leaves, moss-skinned stone -
a jaunty swing of skater skirt and arm,
college folder square-sturdy in my hand.
In the moment. In the last pale pulse of sun.

Hey, can...

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Dog Star

The clarity with which youthful vision perceives the world
Is increasingly fogged by the successive days of life.
Simple magnanimity is replaced by complex reservation.
Knowledge is replaced by uncertainty.
Hope is replaced by the leaden awareness of...

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There is still frost on the roof tops and I wonder about all the silver haired souls 
that are wondering why they are being moved,  by whitely dressed ghosts 
I know its a comfort...

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"Blue Dress"



Temptation 
Green as an 
Apple

Blue 
into the arms 
of Hell

Red 
"LIFE"
Read

the bite of an Apple
Stopped me short
and 

YOU,
despite
all 

Yellow Brick Road
Tornadoes

Stood by me
Silent, still, strong and 
eloquent

Where is Love sung?

Love is sung
in the 
Blue...

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Hot zones of danger,
dark places
where dense hearts go
Hearts that are cold as ice
Roll the dice ... 
take a chance on fatal corona exploration
Go ghetto orbital
and gamble with your porcelain life
You’ve been whitely warned:
Shun the spots...

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Foam whitely seethed, stirred up by surf
While sun beat down upon hot sand
And there, a way’s, a couple lounged
In folding chairs set side-by-side,
Umbrella flapped, it cast its shade,
When up the strand two ladies trekked,
Bikinis bright...

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Tomorrow I'll see flowers white and I will dance with butterflies,
On grass uncut between my knees. They'll call me pal and gladly I,
Will love them back. The smell of yarrows will refill the empty sky,
While...

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salt spray lingers in on shore wind 
shivers threaten in late summer sun 
wet sand sinks to cool hot soles 
as toes tingle in filling holes 
sea grass swirls in tidal current 
brushstrokes crosshatching 
in...

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Lauren became paralysed suddenly overnight, 
When she developed firm transverse myelitis, 
An inflammation of the spinal cord, a huge fright, 
Which gave no feeling chest down, a mantis. 

Born 24 April 1998, she comes from...

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A Kind of Winter

Never to see you turn and smile
or smell your rain-wet hair
or feel your hand or hear your voice
or look into your heart-full eyes

or hold you when you cry
'til Sun and laughter come...

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Quote by: Mystic Rose 
When imagination flies like a wingeth butterfly of joy 
towards the ladder of hope, inside a deep blue sky, 
I am there, I am there, ... I am everywhere ! 


Climb...

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First stretching whitely up in dark wet birth
Then reaching light to green and thicken
Soaking sun goodness to swell adding layers
Pushing and swelling in soft hugging earth
Pungently promising tear stinging peeling
Then slicing and dicing in peanut...

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Forever, comes to mind and peaks where the snow stays.
                         ...

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Release the beauty of a winter morning
 and soar me to the crystal lakes of awe 
 its where the snow slow shines to bring 
 the memory of a soaring raven's caw 

 glide...

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S-tars whirling through midnight black skies, whitely,
U-rged on by the Milky Way, twinkling quite brightly.
M-adcap moon in a romance dance over sapphire earth,
M-eaningful though mild, in the precincts of her birth!
E-arly morning lemon clouds sweep...

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With a heavy heart we pray
Please keep death away
The skies are all grey
Does it matter what we say

God only takes the best
And guides them to His nest
To fulfil their brand new quest
Beautiful angels whitely dressed

God,...

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