Long Wise men Poems

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,...

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Like Hannibal we crossed the pass and crossed 
   the Alps (okay, the Brynderwyn Hills) 
and a bridge too far on north-west passage.
   From out of the Valley of Mizpah 
to...

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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...

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"Backhand"



You have turned me
inside out, cut open
like a tennis ball
I used to beat backhand
along with the racket
hard against the garage wall

To make sense of it all
as a child, the grief stolen
all too swiftly and replaced...

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THE FRIENDS

They were the best of friends to the best of friendship
They did everything together to the best of friendship
The three wise men that came together from different locations
One from the north, one from the...

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“Tessellate” 

on the surface
it’s easy to see
we tessellate

inadvertent 
decorative ostentatious
flirtatious lives taking risks 

with the other sides
planned strategic functional 
quantity rich quality lacking

Human

our words our ways
opposites 
like magnets attract, it all fits 

we think it...

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The Rhymed Poem aka The Rhyming Poem and The Riming Poem
Old English Poem (i.e., Anglo-Saxon Poem) from the Exeter Book, ca. 990 AD
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

He who granted me life created this sun
and...

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The Rhymed Poem aka The Rhyming Poem and The Riming Poem - Part II
anonymous Old English Poem from the Exeter Book, circa 990 AD
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

He who granted me life created this...

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Christmas With Christ Poem/Story Contest
Sponsor: Isaiah Zerbst

Way before Jesus Christ was born, I was one of a chosen few,
to be a spiritual Being attending to God. 
I thought I was really nobody special, 
but He...

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What is Christmas?          
Written: By Tom Wright
1999

A time of many sights to see, 
Of tinsel, garland and wreath's so fair.
Of hundreds of bulbs upon a tree,
With...

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Understanding myself, and towards developing  introvertedly 
The parameters of today, yet most lay dormant inside of me
Questioning the how, as in such, the extended inner faculty 
Fractured as then, it's an opposing end, and...

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THE bad weather had subsided. \the sound of the spring equinox heralded the falling of a silence on the world. In the village, a few village men, young and old, sat around the long dining...

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Something that stuns me from revelations awakening 
All good people of the world see you Isis 
clearly diamond cut your scale tips heavy 
with the wealth that's stolen from foreign lands 
to build weapons of...

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Reading Csikszentmihalyi again,
whose last name would be Csikszenti,
if Mihaly, his first name,
need not also bring up the rear of his family name,
which has nothing to do with anything that follows,
I am sure you are already...

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BEING ABLE TO SEE 
MY OWN ENERGY, 
MY OWN FREQUENCY
FROM INSIDE OUT 
AND OUTSIDE IN
AT THE SAME TIME,
FELT AND SEEMED NORMAL.
I COULD FEEL THE ENERGY.
I WAS THE ENERGY.
I AM THE ENERGY, THE FREQUENCY.
I AM WHOLE,...

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some wise men
of different bent, ilk,
orientation and time, 
then our own,
prescribed four spice yellow smoothie milk 
to fortify the virtues 
considered natural and proper
by their standards and rules of the game:
swaddling was à la mode
cuddling...

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Each day’s (we’re alive) one more leaf that has fallen
from tree (Fate’s collusion?), our edifice grown
with the help of light garnered from sources outside
of our provenance, moisture, and minerals,
‘cheap’s’ turned to ‘gold,’ not by Chemistry’s...

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Sitting atop a large flat stone in an open field
Brushing aside his long silver locks
Bringing to his lips a long clay pipe
Steadying for a light, his gnarled knuckles make this a fight
His sandals dusty, brow...

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Yet Africa is
expected to fall in
line 
With speed and
alacrity 
Or be headed back to
Europe 
For much deserved
censure
And sanitization in
the heart
Of brutish Europe!
Have we not seen
them in action
At Treblinka and
Auschwitz, brother
With their atomic
bombs in Hiroshima
With their...

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I wrote this poems some years ago when I was invited to be on a television program to read a Christmas poem to children as they gathered around me...I had not written a Christmas poem...

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Oh, Democracy,* 
You, the most desirable bride among  
Political systems,
Your suitors many have been throughout 
History  
In every part of the world, you were the one
They were after
But
You declined their proposals, despite the...

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Most, including myself,  have thought upon a certain night                         ...

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“For other answer”, told, “ I cannot lean
Than do it, because to honest question
Must follow action, with no word between”.

We dropped down the bridge with its progression
Where following it is reached the eighth bank,
Then I...

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Sometime we must steal and loan kisses

Beautiful lady arrived at the Austin's tavern at twelve trying to escape the Texas Summer heat.
Once she wanted everything and more,
now she need the Long Islands ice teas.
She was...

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Oh, Democracy,* 
You, the most desirable bride among  
Political systems,
Your suitors many have been throughout 
History  
In every part of the world, you were the one
They were after
But
You declined their proposals, despite the...

Read More