#gems
What's better than gold?
A heart of gold and any golden rule
Thus do not over the mined thing drool.
What's better than pearls?
Any shining pearls of wisdom,
grant the oyster respite's freedom!
What's better than diamonds?
Heavenly supernovas
and stars that dazzle like them.
So don't fret if you can't afford
the earthly underground gem.
What's better than rubies?
Crimson roses and rosy lips
I do and maybe you too already have them!
What's better than emeralds?
Feline eyes glowing in the dark.
Ah Lord! That fluorescent emerald spark!
What's better than silver?
The hope that every cloud has a silver lining
Even miners they don't enjoy mining.
What's better than amber?
Amber eyes shining like embers.
In God's fine variety of iris shades
Ah, and the onyx-eyed maidens and maids!
And whether it be zircon or amethyst,
Sapphire or lapis lazuli
Agate or tanzanite
what tis far better
than all these gems put together
is anyone known as
'a gem of a person'.
And it's up to you to transcend
flesh and blood
and be a guiding star
for the transient travellers
that we are.
Let the dust from which man was famously created,
be upgraded to stardust,
by becoming a shining star
in God's eyes.
And the kind one
is a gem of a person
in the view of the
one true Creator ....
Apr 27
Apr 27, 2026 at 3:11 PM UTC
sift them with adoring fingers,
some small, through fingers fall,
with thumb and forefinger, lift
for close~on examination
loved for their color and clarity,
and for the skill of men who take
them raw, cut and carat to become
spectacular improved o'er god's
initializing intimation
one of the few things men improves from nature taken
lust for their luster,
their clarity reflects no impurities,
some merely hard, some hardened
enough to cut skin and soul
their origin?
from deeper within
the human organs
they are spawned
these sounds of newborn
precious words,
their pleasure given,
humbles me,
these nuanced miracles of human creation,
under jewelers loupe examined,
tongue tasted,
by eye clarified,
innate sounds modifiable
to please the human ear-ring
and born with a certificate of
commonality, like bread
broken for sharing,
and for those who eat these,
add them to your collection,
and by bespeaking, free them,
*read them aloud,
so they may travel to every country,
where hello,
and haloed poetry is spoken*
2:52am !0-25-25
Oct 25, 2025
Oct 25, 2025 at 2:53 AM UTC
Let's make the stars as our topic;
We all know they shine
Like small gems in night,
But do you know a surprise?
They are alone most of the time.
In our lenses they could fit
In between each parting lips,
Close enough for them to whisper
How Earth makes her creatures suffer.
Yet, zooming in there's only void;
Maddening—is that why flares are deployed?
To cry for another cry
Only to echo until the end of time.
Sep 7, 2025
Sep 7, 2025 at 10:59 AM UTC
looking d
o
w
n on this earth,
the moon sheds iridescent liquid pearl gems,
Lamenting for EARTH,
a earth that's
pregnant
WITH
sorrowful burdens,
how must I not feel despair,
feeling the moon's magnificent repercussions of sudden eruption,
feeling of sheer dread,
tearfully pleading for it to end,
In shock, for a moment,
muted are my words,
my tongue asleep,
Fingers crave, mind agonized...
martyred for words.
My pen bleeds ink,
innovating a remdesivir,
to cure the world,
if only there were a cure for
ONE
&
ALL!
To cure the world of the pandemic burdens of HATE, INJUSTICE and VIOLENCE,
but until then,
we must not dabble in silence!
~SacredInkedBlood
Jun 8, 2023
Jun 8, 2023 at 10:19 PM UTC
Poems flow in a stream
That winds through me
As I guide them,
Through meandering, uneven
Places in my life,
Or once in a while,
The smooth runs
Where fishing seems easy.
And I collect the pretty stones
That come to rest,
Water-washed, shining,
Along the river’s bank.
And often, there is a pool,
Green-blue, with clear water
And trout shadows, swift
And still, making a brief home,
Suspended above the sand.
Those are the ones I choose,
The surface touched only
By tree-filtered sunbeams
And beckoning on summer days.
It seems sometimes to me
That poets travel backward
Up to the source of beauty,
Where the water is still pure,
After struggling up through
Rapids and waterfalls,
Or wading through swamps
Down where the stream ends
And a wide river opens up.
Giant rivers can be majestic
But they often bury the gems
Brought down from the
From mountain caves and highlands
Swallowing them to swirl,
Mixed-up with the jewels
Of other poets’ streams.
And from remembrance
We gather our dreams.
Does sorrow fill the traveler
Who reaches the dark places
Where springs emerge
From some place we cannot see?
Apr 5, 2021
Apr 5, 2021 at 5:41 PM UTC
Emerald green eyes
Never tell lies
At birth crystallized
Mother Earth's satisfied
Forever attached to ones heart
Not controlling, but a partner
To guide you through this wild life
To hold your heart, yet not too tight
Emerald green
Not with envy
Green with love
And warming hugs
Embedded deep inside your soul
To lead you with it's ivy gold
To make your heart sweet and bold
Your blood is red, your heart's emerald
Mar 18, 2021
Mar 18, 2021 at 4:10 PM UTC
Isn’t that glimmer visible?
That wonderful sparkle, like a fly to the light
A shining diamond, an alluring sight
Seeker and seeked and discovered overtly
What fun is its commonality?
Must you spend a two months salary?
But see the gem in the rough
Weighed far less in value
But nonetheless faceted
Judge it harshly shall you?
The trope of the diamond
Has been pried from those eyes
By the multi-facets and spectrums
Of transient angles, translucent drums
Milky or lustrous, a separate conundrum
Choose the opal, akin to the human soul
Shimmering subtly and brightly
Gently and ever-changed nightly
Like the starriest coals
Trill and hover ever-so lightly
Discovering the treasures in the rough
That others could never trust
They’ll lie in waiting, perhaps turn to dust
Mar 7, 2021
Mar 7, 2021 at 11:52 PM UTC
Precious gems
started January 14th, 2021
Sometimes I think of
poems and people
misplaced lost missing gone
they live on
as gems in
my heart
tumbled smooth
by the turbulence
of my frantic love
each a precious
polished stone
ruby labradorite jade peridot
nightly before I sleep
I kiss them each one
so they will have sweet dreams.
Jan 31, 2021
Jan 31, 2021 at 7:32 PM UTC
looking d
o
w
n on this earth,
the moon sheds iridescent liquid pearl gems,
Lamenting FOR EARTH,
a earth that's pregnant
with
sorrowful burdens,
how must I not feel despair,
feeling the moon's magnificent repercussions of sudden eruption,
feeling of sheer dread,
tearfully pleading for it to end,
In shock, for a moment,
muted are my words,
my tongue asleep,
Fingers crave, mind agonized...
martyred for words.
My pen bleeds ink,
innovating a remdesivir,
to cure the world,
if only there were a cure for
ONE
&
ALL!
To cure the world of the pandemic burdens of HATE, INJUSTICE and VIOLENCE,
but until then,
we must not dabble in silence!
~SacredInkedBlood
Jun 8, 2020
Jun 8, 2020 at 5:38 AM UTC
To a Daughter More Precious than Gems
by Otomo no Sakanoue no Iratsume (c. 700-750)
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Heaven's cold dew has fallen
and thus another season arrives.
Oh, my child living so far away,
do you pine for me as I do for you?
I have trusted my jewel to the gem-guard;
now there's nothing to do, my pillow,
but for the two of us to sleep together!
I cherished you, my darling,
as the Sea God his treasury's pearls.
But you are pledged to your husband
(such is the way of the world)
and torn from me like a blossom.
I left you for faraway Koshi;
since then your lovely eyebrows
curving like distant waves
ever linger in my eyes.
My heart is as unsteady as a rocking boat;
besieged by such longing I weaken with age
and come close to breaking.
If I could have prophesied such longing,
I would have stayed with you,
gazing on you constantly
as into a shining mirror.
I gaze out over the fields of Tadaka
seeing the cranes that cry there incessantly:
such is my longing for you.
Oh my child,
who loved me so helplessly
like bird hovering over shallow river rapids!
Dear child, my daughter, who stood
sadly pensive by the gate,
even though I was leaving for a friendly estate,
I think of you day and night
and my body has become thin,
my sleeves tear-stained with weeping.
If I must long for you so wretchedly,
how can I remain these many months
here at this dismal old farm?
Because you ache for me so intently,
your sad thoughts all confused
like the disheveled tangles of your morning hair,
I see you, dear child, in my dreams.
Otomo no Sakanoue no Iratsume (c. 700-750) was an important ancient Japanese poet. She had 79 poems in Manyoshu ("Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves"), the first major anthology of classical Japanese poetry, mostly waka. The compiler of the anthology was Otomo no Yakamochi (c. 718-785). Otomo no Sakanoue no Iratsume was his aunt, tutor and poetic mentor. In the first stanza, Lady Otomo has left her children in Nara, possibly to visit her brother. In the second stanza, it is believed that the jewel is Lady Otomo's daughter and that she has been trusted to the care of her husband. As for the closing stanza, according to the notes of the Manyoshu, it was popularly believed that a person would appear in the dreams of the one for whom ***** yearned. Keywords/Tags: Otomo, Sakanoue, Iratsume, Japanese, translation, mother, daughter, precious, gems, gem, jewels, jewel, pearls, pearl, Koshi, Tadaka
Jun 1, 2020
Jun 1, 2020 at 2:05 AM UTC
Walking through the forest route
I use to pick up stones, pointy as well as smooth
Stacked them in an infinte jar of memories
With every stone, sharing stories
My precious were of different colours
But it all looked the same to others
For my dreams, the jar was a shrine
Every stone was a memory my heart coudnt confine
Throughout my everyday walk
I searched for that special rock
Pearl, ruby, topaz or emerald
But the one not meant to be hurled
Little did I know about moments passing by
It's after everything when gone, we cry
Images flashing and nostalgia striking
Stones from my jar began smiling
Every stone was a special one
Reminding memories of someone
Childhood, youth ,adulthood
My jar contained everything it could
Life is a regret of letting go of some stones
Tinier than the memory it owns
All I need is a pool of such stones to dive
To bring my dead forgotten dreams alive
May 22, 2020
May 22, 2020 at 2:59 PM UTC
~~~together you fight, together you succeed
Leaving memories behind, you perform risky deeds
May 20, 2020
May 20, 2020 at 4:23 PM UTC
Les Bijoux (“The Jewels”)
by Charles Baudelaire
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
My lover **** 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 ***** her abdomen, her thighs,
Oiled alabaster, sinuous as a swan,
Writhed pale before my calm clairvoyant eyes;
Like clustered grapes her ******* and belly shone.
Skilled in more spells than evil imps can muster,
To break the peace which had possessed my heart,
She flashed her crystal rocks’ hypnotic luster
Till my quietude was shattered, blown apart.
Her waist awrithe, her ******* enormously
Out-thrust, and yet ... and yet, somehow, still coy ...
As if stout haunches of Antiope
Had been grafted to a boy ...
The room grew dark, the lamp had flickered out,
Till firelight, alone, lit each glowing stud;
Each time the fire sighed, as if in doubt,
It steeped her pale, rouged flesh in pools of blood.
Keywords/Tags: Baudelaire, translation, French, jewels, gems, lover, **** stone, metal, spirit, flesh, body, naked, **** legs, cleft, groin, tigress, animal passion, lust, ***** thighs, hips, ******* belly, blood
***
Invitation to the Voyage
by Charles Baudelaire
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
My child, my sister,
Consider the rapture
Of living together!
To love at our leisure
Till the end of all pleasure,
Then in climes so alike you, to die!
The misty sunlight
Of these hazy skies
Charms my spirit:
So mysterious
Your treacherous eyes,
Shining through tears.
There, order and restraint redress
Opulence, voluptuousness.
Gleaming furniture
Burnished by the years
Would decorate our bedroom
Where the rarest flowers
Mingle their fragrances
With vague scents of amber.
The sumptuous ceilings,
The limpid mirrors,
The Oriental ornaments …
Everything would speak
To our secretive souls
In their own indigenous language.
There, order and restraint redress
Opulence, voluptuousness.
See, rocking on these channels:
The sleepy vessels
Whose vagabond dream
Is to satisfy
Your merest desire.
They come from the ends of the world:
These radiant suns
Illuminating fields,
Canals, the entire city,
In hyacinth and gold.
The world falls asleep
In their warming light.
There, order and restraint redress
Opulence, voluptuousness.
***
Le Balcon (The Balcony)
by Charles Baudelaire
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Paramour of memory, ultimate mistress,
source of all pleasure, my only desire;
how can I forget your ecstatic caresses,
the warmth of your ******* by the roaring fire,
paramour of memory, ultimate mistress?
Each night illumined by the burning coals
we lay together where the rose-fragrance clings;
how soft your ******* how tender your soul!
Ah, and we said imperishable things,
each night illumined by the burning coals.
How beautiful the sunsets these sultry days,
deep space so profound, beyond life's brief floods...
then, when I kissed you, my queen, in a daze,
I thought I breathed the bouquet of your blood
as beautiful as sunsets these sultry days.
Night thickens around us like a wall;
in the deepening darkness our irises meet.
I drink your breath, ah! poisonous yet sweet! ,
as with fraternal hands I massage your feet
while night thickens around us like a wall.
I have mastered the sweet but difficult art
of happiness here, with my head in your lap,
finding pure joy in your body, your heart;
because you're the queen of my present and past
I have mastered love's sweet but difficult art.
O vows! O perfumes! O infinite kisses!
Can these be reborn from a gulf we can't sound
as suns reappear, as if heaven misses
their light when they sink into seas dark, profound?
O vows! O perfumes! O infinite kisses!
I have found adult sites and escort services using my Baudelaire translation, so the pros seem to like it!
***
Duellem (The Duel)
by Charles Baudelaire
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Two combatants charged! Their fearsome swords
brightened the air with fiery sparks and blood.
Their clashing blades clinked odd serenades,
reminding us: youth's inspired by overloud love.
But now their blades lie broken, like our hearts!
Still, our savage teeth and talon-like fingernails
can do more damage than the deadliest sword
when lovers lash about with such natural flails.
In a deep ravine haunted by lynxes and panthers,
our heroes roll around in a cozy embrace,
leaving their blood to redden the colorless branches.
This abyss is pure hell; our friends occupy the place.
Come, let us roll likewise here, cruel Amazon,
let our hatred's ardor NEVER be over and done!
***
The Perfect Courtesan
by Michael R. Burch
(after Baudelaire, for the courtesans)
She received me into her cavities,
indulging my darkest depravities
with such trembling longing, I felt her need...
Such was the dalliance to which we agreed—
she, my high rider;
I, her wild steed.
She surrendered her all and revealed to me—
the willing handmaiden, delighted to please,
the Perfect Courtesan of Ecstasy.
Keywords/Tags: Charles Baudelaire, France, French, translation, balcon, balcony, jewels, mistress, courtesan, invitation, voyage
Mar 31, 2020
Mar 31, 2020 at 6:36 AM UTC
laughter embroidered in gold,
smiles embossed in bronze,
tears dripping with diamonds and
amber eyes in emerald faces that see a glittering world;
a gentle silvery touch of hands,
glassy fumbling fingers,
ruby cheeks and marble hearts and
amber glistening in sunlight and darkness;
glittering light on a glass finger,
clasping hands in a burst of silver,
gold and bronze and diamonds all around and
running off into a slippery citrine sunset;
a final touch of silver,,,
tying the knot on golden thread,,
bronze glinting through diamond droplets, and
emerald bodies returned to the waiting earth.
but amber immortalizes every golden thread,
every glint of bronze, every diamond,
everything that has been, everything that will be-
every single piece of the human experience.
Feb 7, 2020
Feb 7, 2020 at 7:51 PM UTC
Love is scary,
not like betting,
a lot less dreary
and in a nicer setting.
It still is frightening
because of chance,
to lose this enlightening
essence called romance.
Once you have it,
you won't need more,
just can't go without it,
you know you're hooked right to the very core.
It can be polished, hidden, in frames and cuts
and boxes with lots of shining glimmer,
seemingly untouchable.
A simple cold could make it all grow dimmer,
simmering through the stems,
the second you lose these nuts,
your uncut gems.
Feb 3, 2020
Feb 3, 2020 at 6:10 PM UTC
They say the most beautiful gems are the hardest to grow:
They are rare, precious, and unique
Their journeys are long, hard, painful and slow
But their beauty is of greatest value
They begin as any other rock, average and ugly:
Rough, pointed, and unrefined
Then circumstances pressure them, hold them snugly
'til in the heated heart of earth they are purified
Once formed, they must surface, they must be found:
Rooted, probed, and undermined
Rugged rocks from the cold underground
Are saved from the dark to be seen in the light
The sparkle is there, but still under the surface:
Remote, perdu, and unknown
Cut and ground to reach their true purpose
The glittering gems are at last revealed
When I look at this process, I see my own story
Fallen, broken, and remade
First dying inside, then raised up to glory...
You see my little gem beginning to show
Oct 21, 2019
Oct 21, 2019 at 3:08 PM UTC
Gems and jewels
Healing they
Are
I never knew
I just saw the sparkle
Glitter
And pretty colours
Who the hell knew.
Mar 26, 2019
Mar 26, 2019 at 2:10 PM UTC
Each facet, a surface so resplendent,
Till ground away with endless polishing
To find innate sparkle magnificent,
O’er timeless glow that we’ve been cherishing.
O the eons spent on its perfection,
Dulled easily without the jeweler’s lens.
What gain had from chiseled vivisection?
To scratch the surface with corrosive cleanse?
What value is in diamond edges smooth,
Where lines mark surfaces with precision?
Is natural shine too luminous to soothe,
So we treat works of time with derision?
Hardened we underestimate its glow,
Its care requires the finest instrument.
The process used to make it shine was slow,
But dulls with the pressure of improvement.
Jan 26, 2019
Jan 26, 2019 at 9:37 PM UTC
It had been days and nights of rain,
sun shone this morning, and gave
sparkle and luster to tiny drops
on leaves of the Norfolk pine.
shafts of rays revealed
crystals and diamonds
upon layers of green.
what lovely gems,
the sun creates.
Sally
© Rosalia Rosario A. Bayan
December 31, 2018
Dec 31, 2018
Dec 31, 2018 at 7:36 AM UTC
Little insect that dwells into the dangling cocoon
Lend me your silk that is enhanced in voodoo
Look at the beautiful crystals that are above
That traps the angels and their golden harps and doves
Enhance to me your white smeared poison kiss
And I’ll be sure to melt with not even a hiss
Unravel your gown and engulf me into the silk
That’s already lost its flowers and gained its milk
Nov 12, 2018
Nov 12, 2018 at 10:58 AM UTC
I didn't grow up with a silver spoon in my mouth
Mine was made of diamond, sapphire, ruby, and jade
Far more precious than those spoons of silver and gold
Because I didn't know money
But I knew love
The most precious gem that you can't buy
Oct 24, 2018
Oct 24, 2018 at 11:08 PM UTC
She fears that she'll drown in her tearstained diamonds,
or expose her rough skin to find no more vermilion rubies.
She becomes a ruined landscape as she
brushes the black jewels out of her matted hair,
even if her emerald eyes aren't tough enough to withstand that pain.
She dreads for the moment when the world
will not accept her own beauty.
Why can't she understand? Why can't she realise?
Though she holds the rare jewels of a king,
no one shall buy those cursed gems.
Oct 19, 2018
Oct 19, 2018 at 8:24 PM UTC
surrendering to the angel you send in the night
tarnishing night with stars you set, of mementos, gems
sweetened into being by the heat of unknown
fun in the warning
sun in the worsening
need to see the warm winds
in your hair, see it myself
my vigil, diadem is a pen
decrees are on each page
that summer endings and I
lay down to
- it's dreaming
of the soul that holds my soul
Sep 19, 2018
Sep 19, 2018 at 5:20 PM UTC