How long will you live by eating someone else’s leftovers?
Find your own way, don’t live on regurgitated words!
—Kabir Das, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch (keywords/tags: life, words, Hindi)
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When you were born, you wept while the world rejoiced.
Live your life so that when you die, the world weeps while you rejoice.
—Kabir Das, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch (keywords/tags: birth, death, world, laughter, rejoice, weep, weeping, cry, crying)
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Keep the slanderer near you, build him a hut near your house.
For, when you lack soap and water, he will scour you clean.
—Kabir Das, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch (keywords/tags: home, water, Hindi)
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Without looking into our hearts,
how can we find Paradise?
—Kabir Das, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch (keywords/tags: heart, hearts, paradise, sight, seeing, senses, vision)
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Certainly, saints, the world’s insane:
If I tell the truth they attack me,
if I lie they believe me.
—Kabir Das, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch (keywords/tags: truth, trust, lies, faith, belief, world)
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A poet births words,
brings them into the world like a midwife,
then wet-nurses them from infancy to adolescence.
— Michael R. Burch (keyword/tags: poet, poets, words, birth)
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The most dangerous words ever uttered by human lips are “thus saith the LORD.” — Michael R. Burch (keywords: lord, god, bible, religion)
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Trump broke the law and endangered national security. After all, it’s not like the KGB doesn’t know how to pick locks.
— Michael R. Burch aka “The Loyal Opposition” (Keywords: America, USA, leadership, Trump, treason, lock, locks, national security)
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Ko Un was speechless at Auschwitz. Someday, when it’s too late, will we be speechless at Gaza? —Michael R. Burch (Keywords/Tags: Holocaust, Auschwitz, Gaza, death, murder, ethnic cleansing, genocide, infanticide, matricide)
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Joe Montana was Joe Cool, but he was also Joe Clutch. — Michael R. Burch (Keywords/Tags: football, sports, Joe Montana, cool, clutch)
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Water reforms, although we slice it with our swords;
Sorrow returns, although we drown it with our wine.
('A Toast to Uncle Yun' by Li Bai, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch)
Keywords/Tags: water, wine, sorrow, swords, Li Bai, Uncle Yun
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The spring breeze knows partings are bitter;
The willow twig knows it will never be green again.
('Lines from Laolao Ting Pavilion' by Li Bai, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch)
Keywords/Tags: spring, green, part, parting, partings, tree, twig
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Cassidy Hutchinson is a modern Erin Brockovich except that in her case the well has been poisoned for the whole country. — Michael R. Burch
(Keywords/Tags: America, USA, patriotic, truth, justice, White House, Trump)
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Cassidy Hutchinson is not only credible, but her courage and poise under fire have been incredible. — Michael R. Burch
(Keywords/Tags: courage, truth, patriotic, credible, incredible, credibility, Trump)
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I have suffused myself in poetry
as a lizard basks, soaking up sun,
scales nakedly glinting; its glorious light
he understands—when it comes, it comes…
(Michael R. Burch, "Sun Poem," keywords/tags: sun, sunshine, summer, poetry)
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Poets may labor from sun to sun,
but their editor's work is never done. (Keywords: poets, poems, poetry, edit, editor, editing)
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The reign
in a chauvinist’s brain
falls mainly as mansplain.
("Apologies to España" by Michael R. Burch, Keywords/Tags: men, women, Spain, Spanish)
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There is nothing at all supreme, nor anything remotely just, about Clarence Thomas.—Michael R. Burch (Keywords/Tags: justice, injustice, supreme court, corruption, America, judgement)
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Justice may be blind, but does she have to be deaf too?—Michael R. Burch (Keywords/Tags: silence, justice, injustice, integrity, truth)
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“Epigram”
means cram,
then scram!
("Brief Fling" by Michael R. Burch, Keywords/Tags: write, writing, words, word play)
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Wayne Gretzky was pure skill poured into skates.—Michael R. Burch
Keywords/Tags: sports, hockey, NHL, skill, talent, genius, miracle
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Adam Gopnik called Randall Jarrell the “best-equipped” American poetry critic of the past century; he may have been the “best quipped” as well. (Keywords: poet, poets, poetry, poems, critic, criticism)
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Ophelia, madness suits you well,
as the ocean sounds in an empty shell,
as the moon shines brightest in a starless sky,
as suns supernova before they die ...
('Ophelia' by Michael R. Burch for Kevin N. Roberts, keywords: Ophelia, madness, Shakespeare, ocean, moon, sky)
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Uninhabited hills ...
except that now and again the silence is broken
by something like the sound of distant voices
as the sun's sinking rays illuminate lichens ...
("Lu Zhai" or "Deer Park" by Wang Wei, translation by Michael R. Burch, keywords: hills, silence, voice, nature)
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All Christians say “Never again!”
to the inhumanity of men ...
except when the object of phlegm
is a Palestinian.
('Well, Almost' by Michael R. Burch, keywords: Christian, faith, religion, racism, intolerance)
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Ah butterfly,
what dreams do you ply
with your beautiful wings?
—Chiyo-ni, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch (keywords: nature, dream, dreams, flying)
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The nature of Nature
is bitter survival,
from Winter’s bleak fury
till Spring’s brief revival.
The weak implore Fate;
bold men ravish, dishevel her ...
till both are cut down
by mere ticks of the Leveler.
('The Leveler' by Michael R. Burch; keywords/tags: time, nature, winter)
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With every wearying year
the weight of the winter grows,
and while the schoolgirl outgrows
her clothes,
the widow disappears
in hers.
('The Shrinking Season' by Michael R. Burch; keywords/tags: winter, time, age, aging, loss)
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The troublemaker's way is thorny.
— Native American proverb, translation by Michael R. Burch, keywords/tags: Native American, translation, troublemaker, thorn, thorny, wisdom, way, path, journey
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Knowledge interprets the past, wisdom foresees the future. — Native American proverb, translation by Michael R. Burch, keywords/tags: Native American, translation, past, future, knowledge, wisdom, judgement
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