Long Yearn for Poems

When it struck 11, I sighed in relief
When it struck 11, I haven't felt grief
The time kept ticking on and it wasn't brief
And I'm so… patiently shaking like a leaf
Vigorously feeling vital everyday...
Every minute...every second...come...

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Sappho fragment #155
translation by Michael R. Burch 

A short revealing frock?
It's just my luck
your lips were made to mock!

*

Sappho fragment #156
translation by Michael R. Burch 

She keeps her scents
in a dressing-case.
And her sense?
In some undiscoverable...

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Near Sainthood
by Mirza Ghalib
translation by Kanu V. Prajapati and Michael R. Burch

On the subject of mystic philosophy, Ghalib,
your words might have seemed deeply profound
and we might have pronounced you a saint...
if only we hadn't found
you...

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(His Version of Break My Heart)

I have each piece, each shattered part of your heart that I broke in two, I feel every ounce of pain, every emotion, just as you
I would never take this...

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For the past thirty seven years, living for me was knowing that I do not know
I have been yearning for what I do not have a name for
The knowledge of the presence of this nameless,...

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I am appalled by the acts of atrocity in this world of eccentricity 
How can you handle the rebellious transgressions of all children, women and men?
I want to serve You, master, with all I got…
I...

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Falling away,
Away from your embrace
Day by day,
Washing away my face
In the mirror before me...
I ran the race with determination and fury...
I took the correction that God had in mind for me all along...but yet, I...

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***Part 1 of the series, Not Focused (written entirely by J.W. Earnings)***

Resurrect my hushed, pleading voice from the dead
Give me Your water and nourish me with serenity 
Renew my rejoicing spirits, wholesome like bread 
Wandering...

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Every second, every minute, every single thought about you
Wonders of this still could be too good to be true
Fluttering in my heart, palpitations go amiss
I yearn for the touch of your skin, and I constantly...

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Ledger of Love

In the shadows of the Victorian night,
Where candles flicker with amorous light,
A forbidden love fiercely burns,
In a pounding heart, passion yearns.

Amidst the lace and satin array,
Where masks conceal bygone dismay,
A dance of desire,...

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While returning home from my job, in bustling New York City,
The blaring horns of traffic, and the noise were getting to me.

With loud yelling on the sidewalks, and cawing crows up above,
And my poor aching...

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You see the past in me
I'm alive...I survived the disdainful rainfall
Don't be shy to ask for help
I arrive...undone and I must've lost it all...cuz I get no where in life at all 
Can't help, but...

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Take me to the tombstone 
let me touch the gray stone that stands
where life could not
I will put my face to that touchstone of deaf thunder,
What happened  to your breath baby brother,
what happened in...

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Those who’ve gone on before me… what I would have liked to have told them – in those unsent letters, those unwritten stories, those unbroken promises, those unsteady poems, those unbleached memoirs – before the...

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oh youth in all its callow shades
               is from our hope, precisely made
        ...

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In this life of what's to be,
we define life as what we see.
The thoughts of love and life we see,
are the driving force of what we believe.

Of the twins alive in me,
one is blind and...

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“Sometimes, a hug can mend a sorrowful soul like mine” – J W M Earnings
What’s the point of sorrow when I have tomorrow to look forward to?
What’s the big deal with people who just don’t...

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LOVE Of Our Life

Life’s journey swim links 2 defined moments - birth & death.
To survive its stretch we swim different strokes,
Delivered inner strength combats heavy tides & puncture pokes,
Hidden forces compatibly energize different folks,
Fortifying for...

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Ledger of Love

In the dim-lit chambers of the Victorian home,
Resides a wife, her heart a silent tome.
Once, love’s flame burned bright within her breast,
But now a thin whisp, a ghostly jest.

Her gaze averts from her...

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{“You can’t fight for what’s left in you, 
You cannot fight against the waging war that disrupts within you. 
You can’t be against it, it was fulfilled with nature, the nature of you with every...

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VIII

In the minds fixed eye I see five newly discovered graves,              
Headless lions sat atop an impregnable "Triumphal Gate";   ...

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My Daughter's Smile
By Linda Hays-Gibbs 

There is a light, a light so sweet, comes from a smile beaming out from deep-within a soul, of infinite warmth, a burning coal alight with dawn, a tune to...

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Oh, these trees, arms reaching as they
      did then, but even wiser ... perhaps I as
         well have learned another thing-or-two
 ...

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I was a zealous meteorologist, which I had been for a long time,
As the roving years work diligently, to create a very fine wine.

So content in my fond vocation, many deemed me tops in my...

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My Perfect Home Zone...

I want the breeze of Jannah to permeate our abodes,
A restful peace within it take hold,
So I ask Allah to fill in them His light entirely,
with joy, contentment, & pure tranquillity,
To answer...

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