Long Wilts Poems

My most popular poems on the Internet (II)

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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These are translations of some of the oldest Japanese waka, which evolved into tanka, renga and haiku. 

While you decline to cry,
high on the mountainside
a single stalk of plumegrass wilts.
—O no Yasumaro (circa 711), translation...

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Grasses wilt:
the braking locomotive
grinds to a halt
—Yamaguchi Seishi, translation by Michael R. Burch

Oh, fallen camellias,
if I were you,
I'd leap into the torrent!
—Takaha Shugyo, translation by Michael R. Burch

The first soft snow:
leaves of the awed jonquil
bow...

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Sonnets LII-LX

The Endeavors of Lips
by Michael R. Burch

How sweet the endeavors of lips: to speak
of the heights of those pleasures which left us weak
in love’s strangely lit beds, where the cold springs creak:
for there is...

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A Vain Word
by Michael R. Burch

Oleanders at dawn preen extravagant whorls
as I read in leaves’ Sanskrit brief moments remaining
till sunset implodes, till the moon strands grey pearls
under moss-stubbled oaks, full of whispers, complaining
to the darkening...

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Brian’s Poet of Note – ‘Herman Hesse’ Week 2

This week I thought I would discuss translating poetry from another language. I just finished retranslating from German this poem ‘Stufen’ from Hesse’s famous novel ‘The Glass...

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As ev’ry flower wilts and ev’ry youngster				11
Must age, so manifests each stage of living,				11
All wisdom blossoms too and ev’ry virtue				11
Enjoys its time, and cannot last forever.				11
At ev’ry call of life, the heart of man should,				11
(Without...

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I guess the candidates and polity saying "no"
to Earth's human refugees
during this their Thanksgiving time,
did not finish their Darwin biographies.

While endosymbiotic evolution,
indigenous to any one species,
can devolve to survival of the fittest,
this is most likely...

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Their rending cries, when all is still, reecho in the moonlight;
They lie about in fitful slumber on the ground at noonlight,
Their virgin hair spread in the dust; for nothing really matters:
Who then will see their...

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1	A plume of dirt and grime envelops sky;
		The hellish slug of gas does creep along.
		It casts an orb three hundred stories high
		Over the Sun and ends his morning song.
		The birds and trees now stand a...

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It was tranquil sultry August, and the birds were singing,
The insects were all buzzing, and toad frogs were springing.

And I was deep in the mountains, taking snapshots of nature;
For I felt I was a good...

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There is a feeling, yet not a feeling
it’s more of a sense, sensitivity
to the touch, the joy, the love that flows
from the One who knows me
as I’ve never been known by anyone

He knows my heart,...

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Once within our time,
SkyPrince and SunGod talk,
as usual,
endlessly actually,
sending their radiant messages
out toward mutually gravitating receivers,
no Yins allowed to pitch;
just catch integrative flow.

SkyPrince wonders if SunGod might consider turning down his heat,
and wanders aloud as...

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“as we passed her she did wilt
which caused in us sense of guilt
since our stance perhaps did cause
to put her heart’s joy on pause
 
though we’re gentle, not hostile
we diminished her soul’s smile
since our aura as...

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' The gods' spake to all who had 'wide' ears...
but all they heard was Apollo's muse....'
   

How leavened my soul to search,
   
   wooly and wild to the waxxen...

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English translations of Latin poems written by the ancient Roman poetess Sulpicia.



I. At Last, Love!
by Sulpicia
translation by Michael R. Burch

It's come at last! Love!
The kind of love that, had it remained veiled,
would have shamed me...

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This is my modern English translation of the poem "Stages" by the great German poet Hermann Hesse from his novel "The Glass Bead Game."


"Stages" or "Steps"
by Hermann Hesse
from his novel The Glass Bead Game
translation by...

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These are English translations by of Latin poems written by the ancient Roman female poet Sulpicia.



V. Reproach for Indifference
by Sulpicia
translation by Michael R. Burch

Have you no kind thoughts for your girl, Cerinthus,
now that fever wilts...

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CHINESE TRANSLATIONS IV

These are English translations of Chinese poems about nature, the seasons, autumn, winter, spring, night, time, tears, flowers and love. 

Seeking a Mooring
by Wang Wei
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

A leaf drifts through...

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When nature wilts into 
                  a colorless haven, 
metaphors of death sprout 
     ...

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I found comfort in hope, a raw reality in regret.
And lost my way in the game of life, all my chips in on a bet.
I stared at an amaranthine desert that stretched out to the...

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How leavened my soul to search,
   
   wooly and wild to the waxxen wind,
   
   how swift my wings though my fancy yearns,

   catching sights...

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The only woman I ever loved gives joy and love, For I have met and loved other women but not with such satisfaction I feel now. For she turns a dark day bright and shares...

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If I had the time,
I’d sit on the front porch…
With you,
Gossiping about the fireflies this June,
Whispering in colors, brilliant 
Gasps of forever, painted on the midnight…
Moon, glowing through the sky,
Escorted by the escaping stars, graceful,
Flickering,...

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"Eons back, we feared the petal's grace,
called beauty pride, and named it place"
"Mistakes were made, but wisdom stayed"
said Thallorin,"not every path must be replayed".

Each bloom now understood, but still
Knowing alone could never kill,
The monster born...

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