The Best Poems of Michael R. Burch (HM-7)

These are the best poems of Michael R. Burch, a much-published American poet, in a continuing series that begins with The Best Poems of Michael R. Burch (1-25)...



After the Poetry Recital
by Michael R. Burch

Later there’ll be talk of saving whales
over racks of lamb and flambéed snails.



Marsh Song
by Michael R. Burch

Here there is only the great sad song of the reeds
and the silent herons, wraithlike in the mist,
and a few drab sunken stones, unblessed
by the sunlight these late sixteen thousand years,
and the beaded dews that drench strange ferns, like tears
collected against an overwhelming sadness.

Here the marsh exposes its dejectedness,
its gutted rotting belly, and its roots
rise out of the earth’s distended heaviness,
to claw hard at existence, till the scars
remind us that we all have wounds, and I ...
I have learned again that living is despair
as the herons cleave the placid, dreamless air.

Originally published...





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Medieval Marvels: Modern English translations of Medieval Poems written in Old English/Anglo Saxon English and Middle English

These are the best Medieval poems in modern English translations of Old English/Anglo-Saxon poems and Middle English poems by Caedmon, Geoffrey Chaucer, Deor, William Dunbar, Godric of Finchale, Charles d'Orleans, Layamon and the greatest of the ancient poets, Anonymous. There are also translations/modernizations of late Medieval poems by Thomas Campion and Sir Thomas Wyatt.

Some of the oldest English poems are among the most beautiful, including "Merciless Beauty" by Geoffrey Chaucer, "Sweet Rose of Virtue" by William Dunbar, and "Oft in My Thought" by Charles d'Orleans. All completely free here …

How Long the Night
(anonymous Middle English lyric, circa early 13th century AD)
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

It is pleasant, indeed, while the summer lasts
with the mild pheasants' song &h...





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Christmas Poems by Michael R. Burch

These are Christmas poems by Michael R. Burch. Some toward the bottom are darker Christmas poems and heretical Christmas poems. 

The First Christmas
by Michael R. Burch

’Twas in a land so long ago . . .
the lambs lay blanketed in snow
and little children everywhere
sat and watched warm embers glow
and dreamed (of what, we do not know).

And THEN—a star appeared on high,
The brightest man had ever seen!
It made the children whisper low
in puzzled awe (what did it mean?).
It made the wooly lambkins cry.

Not far away a new-born lay,
warm-blanketed in straw and hay,
a lowly manger for his crib.
The cattle mooed, distraught and low,
to see the child. They did not know

it now was Christmas day!

***

Christmas Wishes
by Michael R. Burch

My wish for you, with Christmas near,
is troubles fleeing, fleet as deer,
and peace encompassing as snow,
bright merriment in brilliant flow.

I wish for you, with Christ’s Eve here,
a silver m...





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Jessamyn's Song by Michael R. Burch

“Jessamyn’s Song” is an early poem of mine that I started around age 14 and was substantially complete by age 16. 



Jessamyn's Song
by Michael R. Burch, circa age 14-16

16

There are meadows heathered with thoughts of you,
where the honeysuckle winds
in fragrant, tangled vines
down to the water's edge.

Through the wind-bent grass
               I watch time pass
slow with the dying day
on its lolling, rolling way ...
And I know you’ll soon be mine.

17

There are oak trees haggard and gnarled by Time
where the shrewd squirrel makes his lair,
sleeping through winters unaware
of the white commotion below.

By the waning sun
                              I keep watch upon
the earth as she spins—so slow!—
and I know within 
         ...





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Ancient Greek Epigram translations by Michael R. Burch

These are translations of ancient Greek epigrams by Michael R. Burch. The ancient Greek poets translated include female poets like Anyte, Erinna, Nossis and Sappho, as well as famous male poets like Aeschylus, Anacreon, Antipater of Sidon, Callimachus, Glaucus, Homer, Ibykos, Leonidas of Tarentum, Plato, Simonides, Sophocles



How valiant he lies tonight: great is his Monument! 
Yet Ares cares not, neither does War relent.
by Anacreon, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Here he lies in state tonight: great is his Monument! 
Yet Ares cares not, neither does War relent.
by Anacreon, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Yes, bring me Homer's lyre, no doubt, 
but first yank the bloodstained strings out! 
by Anacreon, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Here we find Anacreon, 
an elderly lover of boys and wine. 
His harp still sings in lonely Acheron 
as he thinks of the l...





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SULPICIA TRANSLATIONS by Michael R. Burch

These are modern English translations by Michael R. Burch of seven Latin poems written by the ancient Roman female poet Sulpicia, who was apparently still a girl or very young woman when she wrote them.



The Favorite Poet by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, 1888

I. At Last, Love!
by Sulpicia
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

for Carolyn Clark, who put me up to it

It's come at last! Love!
The kind of love that, had it remained veiled,
would have shamed me more than baring my naked soul.
I appealed to Aphrodite in my poems
and she delivered my beloved to me,
placed him snugly, securely against my breast!
The Goddess has kept her promises:
now let my joy be told,
so that it cannot be said no woman enjoys her recompense!
I would not want to entrust my testimony
to tablets, even those signed and sealed!
L...





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Daredevil by Michael R. Burch

These are poems about daredevils, poems about risk-takers, poems about heroes, poems about gypsies and other vagabonds...

Daredevil
by Michael R. Burch

There are days that I believe
(and nights that I deny)
love is not mutilation.

Daredevil, dry your eyes.

There are tightropes leaps bereave—
taut wires strumming high
brief songs, infatuations.

Daredevil, dry your eyes.

There were cannon shots’ soirees,
hearts barricaded, wise ...
and then ... annihilation.

Daredevil, dry your eyes.

There were nights our hearts conceived
dawns’ indiscriminate sighs.
To dream was our consolation.

Daredevil, dry your eyes.

There were acrobatic leaves
that tumbled down to lie
at our feet, bright trepidations.

Daredevil, dry your eyes.

There were hearts carved into trees—
tall stakes where you and I
left childhood’s salt libations ...

Daredevil, dry your eyes.

Where once you scraped your kne...





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Medieval Poetry Translations by Michael R. Burch

These are Medieval poetry translations by Michael R. Burch of Old English/Anglo-Saxon poems and Middle English poems by Anonymous, Caedmon, Geoffrey Chaucer, Thomas Campion, Deor, William Dunbar, Godric of Finchale, Charles d'Orleans, Layamon and Sir Thomas Wyatt. 



How Long the Night
(anonymous Middle English lyric, circa early 13th century AD)
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

It is pleasant, indeed, while the summer lasts
with the mild pheasants' song …
but now I feel the northern wind's blast—
its severe weather strong.
Alas! Alas! This night seems so long!
And I, because of my momentous wrong
now grieve, mourn and fast.



Sweet Rose of Virtue
by William Dunbar (1460-1525)
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Sweet rose of virtue and of gentleness,
delightful lily of youthful wantonness,
richest in bounty and in beauty clear
and in every virtue that is held most dear?
except only ...





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Epigrams by Michael R. Burch

These are epigrams by Michael R. Burch and other short poems...

Conformists of a feather
flock together.
—Michael R. Burch

(Winner of the National Poetry Month Couplet Competition) 



Epitaph for a Palestinian Child
by Michael R. Burch

I lived as best I could, and then I died.
Be careful where you step: the grave is wide.

(Published by Romantics Quarterly, Poetry Super Highway, Poets for Humanity, Angle, Daily Kos, Katutura English, Setu, Art Villa; also translated into Czech, Indonesian, Romanian and Turkish)



Childless
by Michael R. Burch

How can she bear her grief? 
Mightier than Atlas, she shoulders the weight 
of one fallen star.



Stormfront
by Michael R. Burch

Our distance is frightening: 
a distance like the abyss between heaven and earth
interrupted by bizarre and terrible lightning.



Laughter's Cry
by Michael R. Burch

Because life is a mystery, we laugh
and do not know the half.

Bec...





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Native American Translations by Michael R. Burch

I translated these Native American poems and proverbs when my father, Paul Ray Burch Jr., chose to end his life by declining to submit to dialysis treatments and enter hospice.

Cherokee Travelers' Blessing I
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

I will extract the thorns from your feet.
Yet a little longer, we will walk life's sunlit paths together.
I will love you like my own brother, my own blood.
When you are disconsolate, I will wipe the tears from your eyes.
And when you are too sad to live, I will put your aching heart to rest.

Published by Better Than Starbucks, Setu (India), DailyKos, Opera News, A Hundred Voices and The Cherokee Native Americans and Their Descendants



Cherokee Travelers' Blessing II
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Happily may you walk
in the paths of the Rainbow.
                  Oh,
and may it always be beautiful before you,
beautif...





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Ono no Komachi translations by Michael R. Burch

These are modern English translations of the ancient Japanese poems of Ono no Komachi, who wrote tanka (also known as waka) and was renowned for the beauty of her verse as well as for her physical beauty. Komachi is best known today for her pensive, melancholic and erotic love poems. Her bio follows the poems. 

If fields of autumn flowers
can shed their blossoms, shameless,
why can’t I also frolic here —
as fearless, wild and blameless?
—Ono no Komachi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

I had thought to pluck
the flower of forgetfulness
only to find it
already blossoming in his heart.
—Ono no Komachi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

So cruelly severed,
a root-cut reed…
if the river offered,
why not be freed?
—Ono no Komachi (KKS XVIII:938), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

The wildflowers and my love
wilted with the rain
as I idly wondered
where in the...





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Song Poems by Michael R. Burch

These are poems that were originally written as songs, or that could easily become songs if someone were to set the lyrics to music (hint! hint!).


Ave Maria
by Michael R. Burch

Ave Maria,
Maiden mild,
listen to my earnest prayer.
Listen, O, and be beguiled.
Ave Maria.

Ave Maria,
Maiden mild,
be Mother now to every child
beset by earth’s thorned briars wild.
Ave Maria.

Ave Maria,
Maiden mild,
embrace us with your Love and Grace.
Let us look upon your Face.
Ave Maria.

Ave Maria,
Maiden mild,
please attend to our earnest call—
When will Love be All in All?
Ave Maria.

Copyright © 2020 by Michael R. Burch



Faithless Lover
by Michael R. Burch

Well I met you darlin’ on a night like this;
the stars were fallin’ as I stole a kiss.

And I fell in love that very night,
as the moon above blessed us with its light.

But the moon was false, and your heart was, too.
Oh, I never dreamed you would be untrue.

&#...





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Ono no Komachi translations by MIchael R. Burch

These are modern English translations of the ancient Japanese poems of Ono no Komachi…

Submit to you, is that what you advise? 
The way the ripples do
whenever ill winds arise? 
?Ono no Komachi, loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Watching wan moonlight flooding tree limbs, 
my heart also brims, 
overflowing with autumn.
?Ono no Komachi, loose translation by Michael R. Burch

If fields of autumn flowers
can shed their blossoms, shameless, 
why can't I also frolic here ...
as fearless and as blameless? 
?Ono no Komachi, loose translation by Michael R. Burch

I had thought to pluck
the flower of forgetfulness
only to find it 
already blossoming in his heart.
?Ono no Komachi, loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Sad, 
the end that awaits me ...
to think that before autumn yields
I'll be a pale mist
shrouding these rice fields.
?Ono no Komachi, loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Now bitterly I watch fall winds
battering the ri...





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Antinatalist Poetry

These are antinatalist poems and translations by Michael R. Burch.  The antinatalist translations include poems and prose by Al-Ma'arri, Aristotle, Buddha, Homer, Omar Khayyam, Sappho, Seneca, the bible's King Solomon, and Sophocles.

Antinatalism is the belief that human beings should not procreate. Do we have the "right" to bring other human beings into a world that was always "red in tooth and claw" and is now increasingly deadly due to global warming, nuclear weapons, drone warfare and maniacal leaders like Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Putin, Jong-un, Netanyahu and Trump?

There were antinatalist notes in Homer, around 3,000 years ago ...

HOMER

For the gods have decreed that unfortunate mortals must suffer, while they remain sorrowless. — Homer (circa 800 BC), Iliad 24.525-526, translation by Michael R. Burch

It is best not to be born or, having been born, to pass on as swiftly as possible.—attributed to Homer, translat...





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Translations by Michael R. Burch

These are poetry translations by Michael R. Burch of poems written in Chinese, French, Greek, Italian, Latin, Russian, Ukrainian, Tamil, Turkish and other languages.



TRANSLATIONS OF FRENCH POETRY



Ophélie (“Ophelia”), an Excerpt
by Arthur Rimbaud
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

On pitiless black waves unsinking stars abide
... while pale Ophelia, a lethargic lily, drifts by ...
Here, tangled in her veils, she floats on the tide ...
Far-off, in the woods, we hear the strident bugle’s cry.

For a thousand years, or more, sad Ophelia,
This albescent phantom, has rocked here, to and fro.
For a thousand years, or more, in her gentle folly,
Ophelia has rocked here when the night breezes blow.

For a thousand years, or more, sad Ophelia,
Has passed, an albescent phantom, down this long black river.
For a thousand years, or more, in her sweet madness
Ophelia has made this river shiver. 



TRANSLATIONS...





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Why I "Left" the Religious Right by Michael R. Burch

These heretical poems on the subjects of God, religion and Christianity explain why I “left” the Religious Right.

If one screams below,
what the hell is "Above"?
—Michael R. Burch

Religion is regarded by fools as true, by the wise as false, and by rulers as useful. — Seneca, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Bible Libel
by Michael R. Burch

If God
is good,
half the Bible
is libel.

I wrote this epigram to express my conclusions after reading the Bible from cover to cover at age 11 and wondering how anyone could call the biblical “god” good.

A Child’s Christmas Prayer of Despair for a Hindu Saint
by Michael R. Burch

Santa Claus,
for Christmas, please,
don’t bring me toys, or games, or candy …
just … Santa, please …
I’m on my knees! …
please don’t let Jesus torture Gandhi!

What Would Santa Claus Say
by Michael R. Burch

What woul...





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Poems about Night, Darkness and Shadows

These are poems about night, poems about shadows, poems about darkness, poems about shades in the form of ghosts and spirits...



Snapshot
by Mehmet Akif Ersoy
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Earth’s least trace of life cannot be erased;
even when you lie underground, it encompasses you.
So, those of you who anticipate the shadows:
how long will the darkness remember you?



Shadows
by Michael R. Burch

Alone again as evening falls,
I join gaunt shadows and we crawl
up and down my room's dark walls.

Up and down and up and down,
against starlight—strange, mirthless clowns—
we merge, emerge, submerge...then drown.

We drown in shadows starker still,
shadows of the somber hills,
shadows of sad selves we spill,    

tumbling, to the ground below.
There, caked in grimy, clinging snow,
we flutter feebly, moaning low

for days dreamed once an age ago
when we weren't shadows, but were men...





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Longer Poems by Michael R. Burch

These are longer poems and longish poems by Michael R. Burch...

Les Bijoux (“The Jewels”)
by Charles Baudelaire
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

My lover nude and knowing my heart's whims
Wore nothing more than a few bright-flashing gems;
Her art was saving men despite their sins—
She ruled like harem girls crowned with diadems!

She danced for me with a gay but mocking air,
My world of stone and metal sparking bright;
I discovered in her the rapture of everything fair—
Nay, an excess of joy where the spirit and flesh unite!

Naked she lay and offered herself to me,
Parting her legs and smiling receptively,
As gentle and yet profound as the rising sea—
Till her surging tide encountered my cliff, abruptly.

A tigress tamed, her eyes met mine, intent ...
Intent on lust, content to purr and please!
Her breath, both languid and lascivious, lent
An odd charm to her metamorphoses.

Her limbs, her loins, ...





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The Composition of Shadows (I & II)

These are poems about poetry, poems about writing poetry, and poems about the process of composition...

The Composition of Shadows (I)
by Michael R. Burch

“I made it out of a mouthful of air.”—W. B. Yeats

We breathe and so we write; the night
hums softly its accompaniment.
Pale phosphors burn; the page we turn
leads onward, and we smile, content.
    
And what we mean we write to learn:
the vowels of love, the consonants’
strange golden weight, each plosive’s shape—
curved like the heart. Here, resonant,...

sounds’ shadows mass beneath bright glass
like singing voles curled in a maze
of blank white space. We touch a face—
long-frozen words trapped in a glaze

that insulates our hearts. Nowhere
can love be found. Just shrieking air.

The Composition of Shadows (II)
by Michael R. Burch

We breathe and so we write;
the night
hums softly its accompani...





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Arthurian Poetry by Michael R. Burch

These Arthurian poems by Michael R. Burch are based on ancient Celtic myths that predate the Christianized legends most readers are familiar with. The main characters include King Arthur, Merlin, Guiniverre, Lancelot, Gawain and Morgause. 

At Tintagel
by Michael R. Burch

That night, 
at Tintagel, 
there was darkness such as man had never seen...
darkness and treachery, 
and the unholy thundering of the sea...

In his arms, 
who is to say how much she knew? 
And if he whispered her name...
"Ygraine"
could she tell above the howling wind and rain? 

Could she tell, or did she care, 
by the length of his hair
or the heat of his flesh,...
that her faceless companion
was Uther, the dragon, 

and Gorlois lay dead? 

Originally published by Songs of Innocence, then by Celtic Twilight, Fables, Fickle Muses and Poetry Life & Times

Isolde's Song
by Michael R. Burch

Through our long years of dreaming to be one
we grew toward an enigmatic...





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Erotic Poems by Michael R. Burch

Gleyre Le Coucher de Sappho by Marc-Charles-Gabriel Gleyre

These are the best erotic poems and best erotic poetry translations of Michael R. Burch. Most of these poems are risqué rather than graphic. Erotic poems come in all shapes, sizes and forms: haiku, tanka, epigrams, couplets, limericks, sonnets, rondels, roundels, villanelles, free verse, etc. There is also a collection of humorous erotic poems at the bottom of this page.


Preposterous Eros
by Michael R. Burch

“Preposterous Eros” – Patricia Falanga

Preposterous Eros shot me in
the buttocks, with a Devilish ...





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Love Poems by Michael R. Burch

These are love poems by Michael R. Burch: original poems and translations about love, romance, passion, desire, sex, dating and marriage. On an amusing note, my steamy Baudelaire translations have become popular with the pros ? porn stars and escort services!

Preposterous Eros
by Michael R. Burch

“Preposterous Eros” – Patricia Falanga

Preposterous Eros shot me in
the buttocks, with a Devilish grin,
spent all my money in a rush
then left my heart effete pink mush. 

Eros was the Greek god of erotic desire, equivalent to the Roman love god Cupid. We get our term "erotic" from Eros. 

Sappho, fragment 42
translation by Michael R. Burch

Eros harrows my heart:
wild winds whipping desolate mountains
uprooting oaks.

Sappho, fragment 155
translation by Michael R. Burch

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






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Poems about Adam, Eve, Lucifer/Satan, the Garden of Eden and the Fall, by Michael R. Burch

These are poems about Adam and Eve, Lucifer/Satan, the Garden of Eden, Cain and Abel, the forbidden fruit, "original sin," the Fall and its bitter aftermath...



Eden
by Michael R. Burch

Then earth was heaven too, a perfect garden.
Apples burgeoned and shone—unplucked on sagging boughs.
What, then, would the children eat? 
Fruit indecently sweet, 
redolent as incense, with a tempting aroma...



Outcasts
by Michael R. Burch

There was a rose, a prescient shade of crimson, 
the very color of blood, 
that bloomed in that garden.

The most dazzling of all the Earth's flowers, 
men have forgotten it now, 
with their fanciful tales of apples and serpents.

Beasts with lips called the goreflower "Love."

The scribes have the story all wrong: four were there, 
four horrid dark creatures—chattering, bickering.

Aduhm placed one red petal in Ehve's matted hair; 

he was lost...





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Heretical Poems by Michael R. Burch

These are heretical poems written by Michael R. Burch, some in his teens, and the first as a pre-teen...

Bible Libel
by Michael R. Burch, circa age 11-13

If God
is good,
half the Bible
is libel.

I came up with this epigram to express my conclusions after reading the Bible from cover to cover, ten chapters per day, at age eleven. 



Saving Graces
for the Religious Right
by Michael R. Burch

Life’s saving graces are love, pleasure, laughter
(wisdom, it seems, is for the Hereafter).



Multiplication, Tabled
for the Religious Right
by Michael R. Burch

“Be fruitful and multiply”—
great advice, for a fruitfly!
But for women and men,
simple Simons, say, “WHEN!”



Willy Nilly
for the Demiurge, aka Yahweh/Jehovah
by Michael R. Burch

Isn’t it silly, Willy Nilly?
You made the stallion,
you made the filly,
and now they sleep
in the dark earth, stilly.
Isn’t it silly, Willy Nilly?

Isn&r...





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Poems for Poets by Michael R. Burch

Radiance
by Michael R. Burch

for Dylan Thomas

The poet delves earth’s detritus?hard toil?
for raw-edged nouns, barbed verbs, vowels’ lush bouquet;
each syllable his pen excretes?dense soil,
dark images impacted, rooted clay.

The poet sees the sea but feels its meaning?
the teeming brine, the mirrored oval flame
that leashes and excites its turgid surface...
then squanders years imagining love’s the same.

Belatedly he turns to what lies broken?
the scarred and furrowed plot he fiercely sifts,
among death’s sicksweet dungs and composts seeking
one element that scorches and uplifts.

The original title of this poem, which I still like, was “Elemental.” I have also considered “Elemental Radiance” from time to time. I think both “elemental” and “radiant” apply to Dylan Thomas’s best poems. Keywords/Tags: Dylan Thomas, poet, poetry, words, light, radiance, il...





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The Best Poems of Michael R. Burch (HM-6)

These are the best poems of Michael R. Burch, a much-published American poet, in a continuing series...



In My House
by Michael R. Burch

I was once the only caucasian in the software company I founded and managed. I had two fine young black programmers working for me, and they both had keys to my house. This poem looks back to the dark days of slavery and the Civil War it produced.

When you were in my house
you were not free—
in chains bound.

Manifest Destiny?

I was wrong;
my plantation burned to the ground.
I was wrong.

This is my song,
this is my plea:
I was wrong.

When you are in my house,
now, I am not free.

I feel the song
hurling itself back at me.

We were wrong.
This is my history.

I feel my tongue
stilting accordingly.

We were wrong;
brother, forgive me.

Published by Black Medina



I, too, have a dream ...
by the Child Poets of Gaza (a pseudonym of Michael R. Burch)

I, too, have a dream ...
that one day J...





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The Best Poems of Michael R. Burch (HM-5)

The Composition of Shadows
by Michael R. Burch

“I made it out of a mouthful of air.”—W. B. Yeats

We breathe and so we write; the night
hums softly its accompaniment.
Pale phosphors burn; the page we turn
leads onward, and we smile, content.
    
And what we mean we write to learn:
the vowels of love, the consonants’
strange golden weight, each plosive’s shape—
curved like the heart. Here, resonant,...

sounds’ shadows mass beneath bright glass
like singing voles curled in a maze
of blank white space. We touch a face—
long-frozen words trapped in a glaze

that insulates our hearts. Nowhere
can love be found. Just shrieking air.

Published by The Lyric, Contemporary Rhyme, Candelabrum, Iambs & Trochees, Triplopia, Romantics Quarterly, Poetry Magazines (UK), Hidden Treasures...

The Best Poems of Michael R. Burch (HM-4)

Lucifer, to the Enola Gay
by Michael R. Burch

Go then, 
and give them my meaning
so that their teeming
streets
become my city.

Bring back a pretty
flower—
a chrysanthemum,
perhaps, to bloom
if but an hour,
within a certain room
of mine
where
the sun does not rise or fall,
and the moon,
although it is content to shine,
helps nothing at all.

There,
if I hear the wistful call
of their voices
regretting choices
made
or perhaps not made
in time,
I can look back upon it and recall,
in all 
its pale forms sublime,
still
Death will never be holy again.

Published by Romantics Quarterly, Penny Dreadful, Warosu (Japan), Pela Poesia (Portugal), Borderless Journal (Singapore), ArtVilla, Poetry Life & Times, Let Justice Roll and Stu...

The Best Poems of Michael R. Burch (HM-3)

The poems that follow are dedicated to my wife Beth, my son Jeremy, my mother, Christine Ena Burch, and other members of our extended family. The final poems are dedicated to my Muse.


 

She Gathered Lilacs

for Beth

She gathered lilacs
and arrayed them in her hair;
tonight, she taught the wind to be free.

She kept her secrets
in a silver locket;
her companions were starlight and mystery.

She danced all night
to the beat of her heart;
with her tears she imbued the sea.

She hid her despair
in a crystal jar,
and never revealed it to me.

She kept her distance
as though it were armor;
gauntlet thorns guard her heart like the rose.

Love!—awaken, awaken<...