Long Xii Poems

Was the place where we climbing down the bank
Then arrived, alpine and, for what was there
Such as, that any eyesight would be shrank.

Similar to landslide that in side bare
Before Trento the Adige just smote,
Or for...

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April 9th, 2024 would be ninety fifth birthday poem for dearly departed papa

The following words crafted soon after the soul of me daddy set adrift into the empyrean realm joining the rank and file of...

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Juvenilia: Early Poems XII

Because You Came to Me
by Michael R. Burch

for Beth

Because you came to me with sweet compassion
and kissed my furrowed brow and smoothed my hair,
I do not love you after any fashion,
but wildly,...

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Greetings to each of you my dearly beloved brothers and sisters. Please read these seventeen blessings rendered for you in God's grace:

I. May God’s love for the new year grant you joy and inspiration overcoming...

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April 9th, 2023 birthday poem for dearly departed papa

Borne aloft into the netherland
the body bearing thee soul   
of Boyce Brandon Harris
birth name given to my late father
buoyed aloft united with spirit
of mine late...

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April 9th, 2025 birthday poem for dearly departed papa

Elysian fields long since embraced dada's soul
which rocketed into aerospace
(courtesy General Electric satellite)
just a tad shy of 
fifty four plus months ago,
nevertheless melancholia
still plucks mine heart strings.

Mine...

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MURI A KAPAGODAS

l
Magodas ako Gadong,
a igagador ko Alam,
na Sagayanan onSnang,
ko Gapa a Simalawn,
a Dayamonthaya ragat,
ko alabat sa Slangan,
a inikarantangadat,
na Piyaladkho Marinaw,
so inambar o Pakato,
sa bapya pha-paroman,
ka oba mBolanaw Mobar,
na Kabayomboran Maog ,
So Lombay a Mitatandp…
ll
Sarmpangn...

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April 9th, 2021 birthday poem for dearly departed papa

Elysian fields embraced dada's soul
which rocketed into aerospace
(courtesy General Electric satellite)
just a tad more'n six months ago,
nevertheless melancholy
still plucks mine heart strings.

Mine psyche still situated awry
placid countenance...

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                      I
 Remember when days were long
   and all de children do...

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I.

Espy, distinguish divinely made lively, lovely Trees
Unisex Trees, inhales carbon dioxide, then breathes
out for us humans, life given clean oxygen
Stout roots run deep, holding God's earth
Also, with you we were taught our first lesson

II.

Animals take...

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https://www.poetryoutloud.org/poem/the-convergence-of-the-twain/

The Convergence of the Twain
                              ...

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Monday morning most merrily
Must have been a splendid 
Summer sleeping sort of a 
Night.  
Everyone was festive and 
Bright despite being hungry.
Damian and Dolly did the 
Food shopping while Molly
Stayed at the hotel with...

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                           I
On the hill betwixt Carlisle and Deep Creek
...

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It’s ten years later
I’ve finally hit paydirt
It’s the motherload

I didn’t strike gold
I struck a deal with myself
To help me grow old

Not act like a child
But first I had to grow up
And not act so wild

I’m...

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NOTE: The Natchez Trace is the Nashville bar where I met my future wife Beth. We invented a game called "twister pool" which involved billiards, drinking and a fair bit of physical contortion ...


At the...

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His name is Joseph Ratzinger, the new pope Benedict XVI,
Installed as the two hundred sixty-fifth pope since foundation;
he’s a staunch defender of orthodox Catholic doctrine;
he’s German, an accomplished polyglot and theologian,
a good friend with sincerity...

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ZEN DEATH HAIKU XII

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

Both victor and vanquished are dewdrops:
flashes of light
briefly illuminating the void.
—Ouchi Yoaka, loose translation/interpretation of his jisei (death poem) by Michael...

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Sappho Translations XII by Michael R. Burch

In the following short translations the fragment numbers are mostly Lobel-Page. All translations are by Michael R. Burch and should be so credited if they are used in any...

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My idea of Hell 
is not that of demons with red-pokers, 
emerging from hot flames... 
as Dante's Inferno; this is the harshest punishment!


Shouldn't all persecuted people have initiated a crusade against
the Catholic Morarchs in Spain...

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Heavy and eerie silence reigned therein, 
The dark rooms looking as sullen as mean, 
As if they had taken serious offence 
Against me who had failed in their esteem, 
My heart feeling contrite was heaving...

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X: It fizzled to dust...

It fizzled to dust, or did it even exist
The mind struggles to see through the mist
The reality or imagination created the sparkly dust
The heart doesn't see sense, but the brain must

Something...

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Unquotable quotes – XII

To catch a monkey, you need a young coconut with three holes for eyes ; bore a hole in one and wait : the monkey will thrust its hand in to grab...

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I.
A black widow hides
the hour’s count, in a painted
red glass, on the underside 
of her belly.

II.
Unlike a snow white kitten,
the hard shiny black widow
receives not one loving caress.

III.
In the pale moonlight the black widow spins a...

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vi. etching, detailing (ala fresco),
vii. plus trimming living room ceiling,
viii. shingling (while fiddling) on the roof,
ix. tiling the kitchen floor,
x. building a cistern for brethren,
xi. wood paneling many rooms,
xii. building custom made toy chest,
xiii. stringing...

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I.
Among twenty different brightly colored toys,
The only moving thing
Was the beak of a noisy parrot.

II.
I was of three family members,
Like a family tree 
In which there is a noisy parrot.

III.
The noisy parrot screeched relentlessly piercing...

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