#crescendo
Crescendo Against Heaven
by Michael R. Burch
This is a poem about a crisis of faith that occurred after the death of the wife of a fellow poet.
As curiously formal as the rose,
the imperious Word grows
until it sheds red-gilded leaves:
then heaven grieves
love’s tiny pool of crimson recrimination
against God, its contention
of the price of salvation.
These industrious trees,
endlessly losing and re-losing their leaves,
finally unleashing themselves from earth, lashing
themselves to bits, washing
themselves free
of all but the final ignominy
of death, become
at last: fast planks of our coffins, dumb.
Together now, rude coffins, crosses,
death-cursed but bright vermilion roses,
bodies, stumps, tears, words: conspire
together with a nearby spire
to raise their Accusation Dire ...
to scream, complain, to point out these
and other Dark Anomalies.
God always silent, ever afar,
distant as Bethlehem’s retrograde star,
we point out now, in resignation:
You asked too much of man’s beleaguered nation,
gave too much strength to his Enemy,
as though to prove Your Self greater than He,
at our expense, and so men die
(whose accusations vex the sky)
yet hope, somehow, that You are good ...
just, O greatest of Poets!, misunderstood.
Published by The NeoVictorian/Cochlea, Poetry Life & Times and The Eclectic Muse (Canada). Keywords/Tags: crescendo, heaven, salvation, price, cost, hymn, funeral, grave, graves, coffins, cross, crosses, cemetery, graveyard, church, spire, God, distant, silent, misunderstood
Mar 22, 2020
Mar 22, 2020 at 1:02 AM UTC
Beneath the crescendo,
There are a few notes,
Softer but no less mellow.
Mar 9, 2019
Mar 9, 2019 at 8:33 PM UTC
A hand glides
softly against
the melodic keys.
A note rings
throughout the room,
bouncing off the walls
roughly and
without falter.
Energy flows through
the hands and
the rhythm picks up.
Crescendo.
Nov 8, 2018
Nov 8, 2018 at 11:05 PM UTC
Whenever I see you,
My heart beats and beats,
Eyes twinkle and twinkle,
Smile widens and widens,
Ears hear songs and songs,
Legs dance and dance and dance,
And then the beats increase,
Getting louder,
Getting higher,
Getting heavier,
Getting bigger,
Getting stronger,
Can you hear it too?
My heart beat goes,
One beat, strong,
Two beats, stronger,
Three beats, strongest,
Like a crescendo,
I feel an elevation in my heart.
I feel an escalation in my heart.
Yes, I love you.
And I know that you're my crescendo.
Sep 25, 2018
Sep 25, 2018 at 11:32 PM UTC
It ain't no mountain high-__++
enough heart stickers 2 pluses
But----she's beat like someone's
playdough high setting
diamond in the rough
High level of mercury felt tough
Like the good will hunting
Let's fulfill our dream with
less talking
More snorkeling high hopes
Big escape important titles
Such a Sperling report high crime
she got high hopes
A kiss is not a kiss
Casablanca
Piano many riddles
The delicate mood became the
Joker her low jeweled belly bottom
He could just pinch her
His paint when smoke gets in your long
Eyelashes the temptation her eyes
of infatuation
How he can move
her schoolgirl crush
The mountains
The holiday sweet baked sun cookies
He was lady looker starting
fresh like a rookie
All loving to the end of her earth
The painter Gogh the fine feather brush
Could lift smiles like hot gold rush
Way below I see something
My eyes became the hidden lake,
My body got exposed to the shining light
The Knight high tempo until the daylight
But there is a high price that's all
I could take almost my blindsight
Her body elevated
She sighs the law and order
The highest authority constitution
the movie camera high action
Higher force of her revelation
Like her Crescendo Moon
Hot body stimulation
But she became to see the
lower state of mind taking the
Xanax route
High hopes she touched the
Goddard
The Searching her lips
piercing she losing her grip
What a hot Australian dude swap
Kicking around in his boots the
rain puddles of love hurdle
The high raft of the tortoise turtles
My heart lies the crescendo
Such a high tempo she screams
Opening up high five
my exclusively yours
Hot five emails to find got
so excited until etc--
A mountain of broken hearts
Luv her favorite journey high
living totally fab
Those hubs and cool London pubs
On the edge of ecstasy but my dark
midnight pup labs jump up the vibe
The earth stood like a still life
The darkness and the red moon
Everything I thought of came true
bleeding
The high sounds of the clock
Striking at midnight
I felt the coach driving up the
Godmother not the fairest of Bees
They were swarming high seas
And left me on my scared knees
Some leftover Crescendo of honey
His chinny chin Big Foot beard-man
High waist lady gold bonds
of money
Howling wolf complex mixture
of her body curves too many
Symphonies playing
Like something never failed
Seeing the beauty rainfall
Mermaid Tail
Like the crest of
Tsunami all the selfie's
MeMe high tea hours
100 feet he could
of very well
wanted so much
to kiss her high-cheeks
But finding the treasure
lips curved-low
Italiano tempered the wicked concert
Concerto higher up temptation
High tempo hot soup
Louisiana red hot tabasco
You gotta have her gumbo
Going to the Mountaintop
Mr. Concerto meeting
the computer
Mr. Dumbo what an
Mc Jumbo
burger the "Clicker Bar"
The stars eating away
The greens of her eyes
Living in a hut spitting
pits of olives
Spicy ladies of pimento
In young and restless town
Sacramento
She was sitting her name Sofia
High rise body elevated
The wicker chair (Loren)
Contemplated
Hearing a sharp squeak
of his shoe that is his affair
He was walking
toward her
He fired out pool shark
Like the Crescendo cafe all neck
out like giraffes to dusk at night
Two heads are stirring
better than one smooth
spread Jiffy butter
Enjoying their cappuccino
the flamingo dancers the bodies
sway together to be engaged
Licks of her envelope
He kissed up to her first sip
Hot mouth expresso
The Pacific high tempo soprano
the mountain can be terrific
Be more specific
That girl Marlo with the
higher latitude in St Thomas
it won't bring back
a love quicker
Our minds get slower
Using her useless hair blower
"Pacific Crest Inn"
Mind controller
Bathing on sun worshipping
What a star turning point
But lower and deserted on an island
Like smoking the sun up with a joint
the Apennines Italy like pennies for
her thought
The lust crest of her waving high
Surrender my love (Silverback)
Glitter silver high tent
Rainforest of Gorillas
Monkey *** swinging and surfing the
High society ladies what a fly-by event
High Apple Martinique the computer
Felt flooded like she could use a drink
Yes we have bruised bananas and
horn-blowers those outfitters
out of their minds towners
They never leave the crazy freeloaders
Shell be coming around your mountain
High tempo voice meet
Tatiana of the black crow plantation
Feeling the soulful E-Harmony
Coupling eyes of tears Seattle
Cows and sheep all stacks of hay cattle
Right now her salvation she needed
something lighter not exactly higher
The Sierra Nevada crest she looked up
She went back to her Mediterranean villa
Looking at her pearly white teeth
And said what is with all this crest
I have the best hours with
my crest toothpaste lower teeth
being brushed to the higher height of
my top mountain teeth
That crescendo
was my new birth
Jul 4, 2018
Jul 4, 2018 at 10:42 AM UTC
Shall I compare thee to a summers day?
I think not, for the day's end soon approaches as does Summer's demise.
Shall I compare them to a sparkling diamond?
Again, I think not, for many diamonds are cut apart to gain their beauty.
Shall I compare thee to a crescendo of song, reaching its peak?
Still, I think not, for each and every note may yet still go sour.
While some may profess these things as perfection, you are indeed perfection in my eyes.
Now and forever.
Mar 18, 2017
Mar 18, 2017 at 1:24 PM UTC
Awake again, another day
Coffee as brown as her eyes meet me from
The mug she made me.
The heater keeps the cold away
But not as well as her breath
Or her skin against mine,
The shower head begins to spray
Steaming water that I ever wish were
Her fingers, streaming down my back.
Our frustrated feelings start to fray
As we play witness to others begin life together
As we've worked so hard to achieve.
But I will be the ceramic and not the clay,
Steadfast and unyielding until mine is mine
And hers is hers because by god --
Awake I will be in the suns first rays,
Wrapped in arms and light and soft brown hair
And eyes like coffee that will beg me back to bed.
Nov 8, 2016
Nov 8, 2016 at 2:02 AM UTC
I can't breathe without
A crescendo of panic
Crashing into my lungs
Like a flood of salty, bitter water.
Apr 18, 2016
Apr 18, 2016 at 7:49 PM UTC
I was breathing in the beauty of Scala dei Turchi,
as I sat atop pure white marlstone crescendo,
etched by the winds and the rains of time;
the view emphatically embracing the coast of Agrigento.
‘Twas along those balbutient banks of the Mediterranean sea
I saw him silently standing there,
his hands resting in white linen pockets,
the salt wind blowing through his peppery hair.
Serenely somber in quiescent stillness,
he was dashingly debonair,
his form earnestly beseeching, a wish
delicately wrapped in the guise of a prayer.
He peeled his stare away from crystal waters clear,
I was transfixed by eyes that gallantly gazed at me;
eyes that emerged from pools of a deep sorrow,
eyes as transparent as the turquoise blue sea.
Deftly ascending those limestone cliffs,
he was reminiscent of Saracen pirates penetrating;
with such determination of gait and surety of purpose,
he approached me with palpable power emanating.
His drawing near sent my heart swiftly a-pounding,
a halo of light behind his sun-kissed face –
I imagined I saw a shadowed smile emerge
as he nonchalantly quickened his pace.
He took his place beside me
atop the pure white marlstone crescendo;
and we waited for the sun to descend,
against the skies of beautiful Agrigento.
Oct 11, 2014
Oct 11, 2014 at 3:20 PM UTC
I hung on, waiting for the final breath
there was nothing.
no standing ovation,
no final crescendo
Sep 20, 2014
Sep 20, 2014 at 1:52 PM UTC
Trembling as it sounds,
Every time the keys play down low,
My life tones & pounds
In its own decrescendo.
Things become shallow,
As blurry as fogged glass.
Can I pull myself out of this hollow
Or wait for time to pass?
Let your encompassing melody
Lift me off my hollow.
I wish to be free
So I can hear your sweet crescendo.
Jul 6, 2014
Jul 6, 2014 at 8:57 PM UTC