Long With longing Poems

Watching wan moonlight
illuminate tree limbs,
my heart also brims,
overflowing with autumn.
—Ono no Komachi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

As I slept in isolation
my desired beloved appeared to me; 
therefore, dreams have become my reality
and consolation. 
—Ono...

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As I slept in isolation
my desired beloved appeared to me; 
therefore, dreams have become my reality
and consolation. 
—Ono no Komachi, translation by Michael R. Burch

Submit to you—is that what you advise? 
The way the ripples...

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Chinese Poets: English Translations

These are modern English translations of poems by some of the greatest Chinese poets of all time, including Du Fu, Huang O, Li Bai, Li Ching-jau, Li Qingzhao, Po Chu-I, Tzu Yeh,...

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Sings the story at twilight 
When the moon is just rising, 
Sings a simple troubadour 
The short tale of life. 

How a fine boy, 
Born in a palace, 
A palace like crystal, 
Became a proud...

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In the silky night, dotted with mystery,
Where the moon's thread weaves shadows on the paths,
The heart, a thin garment, a flash in the ether,
Listens as the time from the hourglass seeps away,
And its rhythm, a...

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This train is coming down the main
This train is rocking my brain
This train is the overcrowded train
This train is washing in the rain
This train is the messy train
This train is filled with pain 
This train...

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Pasha Acremodios grew greedy,
discontented with the domain he dominated,
so he turned covetous eyes toward Farabia,
sending his soldiers to seize this ripened plum

Spoiling for a fight and fighting for spoils,
his army swept across Farabia
like a bloody...

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Women look at us with unsettling eyes, undulating like the sea in a summer storm,
Hiding within their depths a universe of dreams, entwined with longing and starry glimmers,
We wonder, what do we desire, to be...

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Poetry, paint and the birth of a world
in a whirl the Dark and the Light do swirl
yet obey the dawn and dusk I do unfurl
above the alter I, the Almighty
forge form from their spectral sexuality,...

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These are my modern English translations of the ancient Japanese poems (waka/tanka) of Ono no Komachi…

"It's over!"
Your words drizzle like dismal rains,
bringing tears,
as I wilt with my years.
—Ono no Komachi, translation by Michael R. Burch

The...

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My uncle’s home, had a forest nearby;
he loved animals so; left some supper scraps, outside.
It was always his generous intent to feed,
every stray, that crawled, walked or flew, from those trees.

While visiting him, one sweet,...

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Everyone says to forget him.
Whenever I talk randomly about him,
They say, "Move on! Let go! Forget him!"
Someone better will come, so let your heart swim.

It's not that I cling to the past we shared.
In fact,...

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They walked up to the entrance
And he followed her up the stairs
Stopping a few stairs below her
She turned to face him, and found herself
Level with his blue eyes
He had both hands in his pockets
And now...

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Under the cemetery of falling stars, beneath veils of eternity,
The end of any affair is death. She is my sanctuary,
An evanescent eye, slipping through the magical veil,
Far from the tribe of my soul, my breath
Finds...

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One day a little orphan Troll followed my son, home from school.
No doubt, we'd keep him, he was so cute, as he sat down and mewled.
He seemed so young, and carried around his club made...

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(A Sequel To “Rough Draft”)
Verse 1:
In the library’s corner, tucked in the trash,
A wadded up paper, a forgotten ash.
But a few words exposed, a whisper of grace,
Caught her eye, and time slowed its pace.

She pulled...

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When you return home after many years,
stepping onto familiar soil,
your heart stirs with bittersweet anticipation.
The sun-tinted house that once witnessed your dreams
now stands a stranger, with cold eyes afar,
overgrown vines clinging to its weathered walls.
It...

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When we were younger
Our hearts and hands had melded
And brightened up a world

Then in winter, came snowstorms
And lightning, to burn up our shelter
A dragon roaring proud

So we were dashed, were broken
A nasty scar formed upon...

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Beneath the burdens of countless nights,
In the cursed silence of the soul's waiting room,
I sat, the last one, loneliness carved by the chisel of forgetfulness into the stone of my heart,
Blocking him - he who...

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In the twilight hum of broken cities,
where glass teeth bite the smog-choked sky,
I walked—a stranger to my own time—
past dreams rusted in neon haze.

"This is the kingdom we made,"
whispered the wind through hollow streets,
"not with...

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~
There are legends I've heard, old songs in the dark
of the old folklore tales, and the old gypsy trails,
where traveling caravans of rugged old wagons
still echo, with longing, in valleys below...

Where each treasured belonging,
was packed...

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GLIMPSE 

My heart a pouch of rich wine overlays yours
A drop of blood spilled over an arum lily
It waits with longing intense, retains no tears
As it remembers its cringes of final fear when it
Jumped into...

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The world slips into sleep, and I lie awake, restless on the cold bed,
Waiting for that call to bring me comfort, like every night,
The day's fatigue lingers, but the night comes to share everything with...

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I'm remembering our tender moments; how sweet was love
that filled pages of poetry you will never read, where I wrote of 
my affection and things I no longer have the chance to say.
Words of passion,...

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Wind breathes her song, a symphony
	Calling me home, restoring my heart
		With longing, broken stories of hope,
			Senses, joy, longing – amber and gold,
				Magnetic, inviting, victories…

She sings, like the peace in her wings
	Dressed in still shadows, her...

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