Roundel Poems

Oft in My Thought
by Charles D'Orleans
translation by Michael R. Burch

So often in my busy mind I sought,
Around the advent of the fledgling year,
For something pretty that I really ought
To give my lady dear;
But that sweet thought's been wrested from me,...Read More

In the evening looking out my back door
The magic begins
Can you feel the adrenaline?
Spider woman is weaving dream catchers to lore.
Fairies are dancing like their ancestors did before.
The elves are sweetly playing their mandolins.
In the evening looking out my back...Read More

I never knew this is what it was called until it
Happened to me
In public.
At first it was traumatic
As it came out bellowing like a banshee
And the aromatic bouquet wasn't flowering it 
Was a catastrophe.
Rotten egg smell is atomic!
I never knew...Read More

   A springtime bloom with golden hue
  Swaying 'neath clouds with fluffy plume 
 Symbols of hope and all things new
  A springtime bloom

 They dare to rise in winter's gloom
  As their trumpets come...Read More

An itch, a witch, a glitch or a twitch:

Do tell me, Madam, which of these
Would satisfy your purpose best?
I have every wish to please.

It would be in your interest
My poor enquiry to appease,
In which item will you invest:

An itch, a...Read More

Three Roundels by Geoffrey Chaucer

I. Merciles Beaute ("Merciless Beauty")
by Geoffrey Chaucer
translation by Michael R. Burch

Your eyes slay me suddenly;
their beauty I cannot sustain,
they wound me so, through my heart keen.

Unless your words heal me hastily,
my heart's wound will remain green;
for...Read More

To live in the moment
Means we get to see things first hand
Made by the masters hand.
This is by no means an accident.
We get to see God's accomplishments
From any where we stand.
To live in the moment
Means we get to see things...Read More

Spring
by Charles d'Orleans (c.1394-1465)
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Young lovers,
greeting the spring
fling themselves downhill,
making cobblestones ring
with their wild leaps and arcs,
like ecstatic sparks
struck from coal.

What is their brazen goal?

They grab at whatever passes,
so we can only hazard guesses.
But they rear...Read More

  "Only from the Heart you can touch the sky"  Rumi
   
      Whose heart beats entranced, as a thrumming sound
    And seeks the honey of a silken kiss
...Read More

A lovely vision in a bonnet
  Her golden braids a-dangling down
Her rosy cheek with dimple on it
  The fairest maiden I have found
Her slender waist, my hand upon it
  Devoted to her beauty bound
A lovely vision...

If this...Read More

Chasing rainbows after rain,
When there is nothing to gain,
Searching for that pot of gold,
Though you know you search in vain.

How often have you been told
That you never will attain
Heaven's riches manifold
Chasing rainbows after rain?

Do you hope to drink champagne
When you...Read More

To be so rich that we can buy 
whatever we desire to
They'll envy us, who just scrape by
To be so rich...

We'll lust and love, just me and you
What need our souls to edify
With pleasure's bliss, our rendezvous...

Do I detect a...Read More

If there was no tomorrow to see
  No longer touching delight and joy
    We could not feel the pain we each flee
       If there was no tomorrow

   ...Read More

THE DOLL

With Mona Lisa wiles, unfurled.
Her porcelain lips with tight grip.
A button dress antique and pearled.
Her glass eyed threat.

Unnerving doll — she’s quite a trip.
A poignant face, pompadour curls.
Her long stem rose replaces whip?

Alien smile out of this world —
impenetrable...Read More

An ice cube chin and sturdy feet,
Until you pierced my atmosphere.
The arrow’s twang made my heart heat.
What have you done?
This hard knock girl now filled with fear.
I’m miffed with Cupid’s charming-cheat.

These buckled knees —    when you said...Read More

I just want to tell you I love you so
  I just want to say I thrill to your touch
    I just want to say I'll not let you go
I just want to tell you...

You really...Read More

The time has come to damp down gridlock and polarization
  For the country's citizenry to treat each other with basic decency
    To stop resorting, at the slightest offence, to righteous indignation
The time has come...

The time has...Read More

If time were ours, would we be glad
  Would we fill it up with plans and things
    Would we spend time wisely, or go mad
If time were ours...

I know that singers would endless sing
  I...Read More

You brought love to my heart and a smile to my lips
only through you, have I known happiness and joy,
you're the sun shadows of depression can't eclipse;
you brought love to my heart.

You believe in me, molding a man from a...Read More

I am

      I am

              the source

the source
         of all
     ...Read More

God chose you for me to raise; every step of every mile
I loved teaching you to walk, prompted by my loving gaze
you made all my worries and anxieties well worthwhile.
God chose you for me to raise.

It was so long ago,...Read More

                                       ...Read More

My bro and sis approached Dad by design
while staying in the background was my whim.
Dad drove me for care when sick at age nine.
Daddy carried me throughout hospital

When small I both loved my Dad and feared him.
At hospital, Dad passed...Read More

                  I dreamed to soar high

             Singling sensation with tingling passion...Read More

Oh spite, oh hell – to the Hell in my own name too!
The hell in love, the hell in romance, the hell of all men!
He being in my name as well of course… as if I’m made of men!
Do they...Read More