Let us converge on the greatest Garden and then turn to others of meaning and beauty we are so dutiful
To work with family but in the beginning not only clues but evidence shows our great need we need to
With draw walk the garden paths at evening time with our creator father how peace would flow into the
Deepest recesses of our being briars of discontent found today would be changed into focal points of
Clustered flowers to the eye they enthrall with softness their scent infill’s the empty vessel that was
Spilled or intentionally poured out for the help of others with the most soothing rush it flows over the
Whole of you bask in this released treasure and then lift your eyes from His gifts to His lips that are
Speaking to you never have you partaken or been to the inner and outer most part of yourself with total
Disclosure confusion pain and alienation lift as a soiled garment the refreshing sweeping breeze carries
Torment out to sea the moist outer banks flood in as a great mist you are at once bound and beaming
With the knowledge that you are a most valuable person He addresses yourself aberrations that
Demean your true worth so it lies in all men and women the tell tale accuser the discomfited not from
Friend’s family or stranger did not William say it so truly “to thine own self be true” we are most cruel to
Ourselves this trait is vanquished when we are in the very presence of all consuming love he looks inside
At every hurt you see through His eyes and there is no complaint or accusation just acceptance faraway
Longings surprisingly touch and fill attending sorrow that baffled with a consistency how it unerringly
always found the mark it never missed your heart now by the touch of His hand
On the side of your face an erasing a newness of promise was put in its place how your smile told an
Outward story of the final removal of trepidations that were corrosive and were clay like that stuck and
Clung to your soul creating a heaviness and depression now the freeing bouncy love dispels the darkest
Apparitions that are lies that fight your best and highest interest what was the word that said moving
Mountains yes the heights and lows are neutralized now joy peace is at flood stage all it took was a stroll
In the garden

Batter my heart, three-person'd God, for you
As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;
That I may rise and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend
Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
I, like an usurp'd town to'another due,
Labor to'admit you, but oh, to no end;
Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,
But is captiv'd, and proves weak or untrue.
Yet dearly'I love you, and would be lov'd fain,
But am betroth'd unto your enemy;
Divorce me,'untie or break that knot again,
Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
Except you'enthrall me, never shall be free,
Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.

Strike me down like a rattling convulsion,
hurricane, and you the eye.

Eye's are covalent in this aspect,
breaking down walls.
While empires fall as such love is an active culture.

We depict our dependings.
You live, I hide.
We aren't that similar, aren't we?

Question me your favorite color,
does it even matter?
Draw blanks, darkness,
engulfing your entity.

Break down these walls.
They're finite in something so infinite.
This lightness, blinding ones soul,
You welcome with a closed heart.

Soft lips, you enthrall,
**** the none existent pain,
love the future that is blind.
Contemplate me, loving the lavash.

Kind pity chokes my spleen; brave scorn forbids
     Those tears to issue which swell my eyelids;
     I must not laugh, nor weep sins and be wise;
     Can railing, then, cure these worn maladies?
     Is not our mistress, fair Religion,
     As worthy of all our souls' devotion
     As virtue was in the first blinded age?
     Are not heaven's joys as valiant to assuage
     Lusts, as earth's honour was to them? Alas,
   As we do them in means, shall they surpass
   Us in the end? and shall thy father's spirit
   Meet blind philosophers in heaven, whose merit
   Of strict life may be imputed faith, and hear
   Thee, whom he taught so easy ways and near
   To follow, ****'d? Oh, if thou dar'st, fear this;
   This fear great courage and high valour is.
   Dar'st thou aid mutinous Dutch, and dar'st thou lay
   Thee in ships' wooden sepulchres, a prey
   To leaders' rage, to storms, to shot, to dearth?
   Dar'st thou dive seas, and dungeons of the earth?
   Hast thou courageous fire to thaw the ice
   Of frozen North discoveries? and thrice
   Colder than salamanders, like divine
   Children in th' oven, fires of Spain and the Line,
   Whose countries limbecs to our bodies be,
   Canst thou for gain bear? and must every he
   Which cries not, "Goddess," to thy mistress, draw
   Or eat thy poisonous words? Courage of straw!
   O desperate coward, wilt thou seem bold, and
   To thy foes and his, who made thee to stand
   Sentinel in his world's garrison, thus yield,
   And for forbidden wars leave th' appointed field?
   Know thy foes: the foul devil, whom thou
   Strivest to please, for hate, not love, would allow
   Thee fain his whole realm to be quit; and as
   The world's all parts wither away and pass,
   So the world's self, thy other lov'd foe, is
   In her decrepit wane, and thou loving this,
   Dost love a wither'd and worn strumpet; last,
   Flesh (itself's death) and joys which flesh can taste,
   Thou lovest, and thy fair goodly soul, which doth
   Give this flesh power to taste joy, thou dost loathe.
   Seek true religion. O where? Mirreus,
   Thinking her unhous'd here, and fled from us,
   Seeks her at Rome; there, because he doth know
   That she was there a thousand years ago,
   He loves her rags so, as we here obey
   The statecloth where the prince sate yesterday.
   Crantz to such brave loves will not be enthrall'd,
   But loves her only, who at Geneva is call'd
   Religion, plain, simple, sullen, young,
   Contemptuous, yet unhandsome; as among
   Lecherous humours, there is one that judges
   No wenches wholesome, but coarse country drudges.
   Graius stays still at home here, and because
   Some preachers, vile ambitious bawds, and laws,
   Still new like fashions, bid him think that she
   Which dwells with us is only perfect, he
   Embraceth her whom his godfathers will
     Tender to him, being tender, as wards still
   Take such wives as their guardians offer, or
   Pay values. Careless Phrygius doth abhor
   All, because all cannot be good, as one
   Knowing some women ******, dares marry none.
   Graccus loves all as one, and thinks that so
   As women do in divers countries go
   In divers habits, yet are still one kind,
   So doth, so is Religion; and this blind-
   ness too much light breeds; but unmoved, thou
   Of force must one, and forc'd, but one allow,
   And the right; ask thy father which is she,
   Let him ask his; though truth and falsehood be
   Near twins, yet truth a little elder is;
   Be busy to seek her; believe me this,
   He's not of none, nor worst, that seeks the best.
   To adore, or scorn an image, or protest,
   May all be bad; doubt wisely; in strange way
   To stand inquiring right, is not to stray;
   To sleep, or run wrong, is. On a huge hill,
   Cragged and steep, Truth stands, and he that will
   Reach her, about must and about must go,
   And what the hill's suddenness resists, win so.
   Yet strive so that before age, death's twilight,
   Thy soul rest, for none can work in that night.
   To will implies delay, therefore now do;
   Hard deeds, the body's pains; hard knowledge too
   The mind's endeavours reach, and mysteries
   Are like the sun, dazzling, yet plain to all eyes.
   Keep the truth which thou hast found; men do not stand
   In so ill case, that God hath with his hand
   Sign'd kings' blank charters to **** whom they hate;
   Nor are they vicars, but hangmen to fate.
   Fool and wretch, wilt thou let thy soul be tied
   To man's laws, by which she shall not be tried
   At the last day? Oh, will it then boot thee
   To say a Philip, or a Gregory,
   A Harry, or a Martin, taught thee this?
   Is not this excuse for mere contraries
   Equally strong? Cannot both sides say so?
That thou mayest rightly obey power, her bounds know;
Those past, her nature and name is chang'd; to be
Then humble to her is idolatry.
As streams are, power is; those blest flowers that dwell
At the rough stream's calm head, thrive and do well,
But having left their roots, and themselves given
To the stream's tyrannous rage, alas, are driven
Through mills, and rocks, and woods, and at last, almost
Consum'd in going, in the sea are lost.
So perish souls, which more choose men's unjust
Power from God claim'd, than God himself to trust.

One step forward and you shall fall.
Tumbling down hear the DoDo bird call.
Casing that rabbit down his tiny hall.
Through singing gardens you crawl.
One makes you smaller and one makes you tall.
Escape from the tea party narrowly missing a brawl.
In the cute little house you wish to be small.
Don't eat anything here you should always recall.
Look at that grin as the he curls in a ball.
This way, that way on all the signs they scrawl.
With homesick tears many eyes you enthrall.
Don't laugh at the Queen painted up like a doll.
In the court room the Cards hold you thrall.
Run through the roses that make up the maze wall.
That was a good dream you think, all-in-all.

Infinite, iridescent ribbons
Spinning out around us.

With every word you let slip,
I dare say I see every hue,
Drifting closer to me,
and you.

They speed up with every second of anticipation,
Wrapping tightly around our skins sensation.

But somehow, these mingling ties,
they cannot bind me.
instead they move us.
A deep blue undertow, your eyes,
washing over my entirety.
Bright hot Scarlett's sweetly pulling us in,
Closing the only gap left between us,
now chest to chest.
white light, tracers at your mouths content.
silver as winters first gasping breath,
shivers as you reach for me again.

Our strings of thought do not break as they should.
Concoctions of enthrall,
tangling, mending, strengthening,
as you move to my hearts rapid beat.

These are English translations of Urdu poems by Faiz Ahmed Faiz...

Last Night
by Faiz Ahmed Faiz
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Last night, your memory stole into my heart—
as spring sweeps uninvited into barren gardens,
as morning breezes reinvigorate dormant deserts,
as a patient suddenly feels better, for no apparent reason …

Published by Reader’s Digest (website) in "Best Romantic Poems"



Last Night (II)
by Faiz Ahmed Faiz
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Last night, your memory stole into my heart ...
as spring steals uninvited into barren gardens,
as gentle breezes revive dormant deserts,
as a patient suddenly feels better, for no apparent reason ...



Last Night (III)
by Faiz Ahmed Faiz
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Last night, your lost memory returned ...
as spring steals silently into barren gardens,
as gentle breezes stir desert sands,
as an ailing man suddenly recovers, for no apparent reason ...

Raat yunh dil mein teri khoee hui yaad aayee
Jaise veeraaney mein chupkey sey bahaar aayee
Jaisey sehra on mein howley se chaley baadey naseem
Jaisey beemaar ko bey wajhey Qaraar aaye.



Faiz Ahmed Faiz (1911-1984) was an influential Pakistani intellectual and one of the most famous poets of the Urdu language. His reputation is such that he has been called "the Poet of the East." His name is often spelled Faiz Ahmad Faiz in English. These are my modern English translations of Urdu poems by Faiz Ahmed Faiz.



The Desert of Solitude
by Faiz Ahmed Faiz, as performed by Iqbal Bano
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

In the wastelands of solitude, my love,
the echoes of your voice quiver,
the mirages of your lips waver.

In the deserts of alienation,
out of the expanses of distance and isolation's debris
the fragrant jasmines and roses of your presence delicately blossom.

Now from somewhere nearby,
the warmth of your breath rises,
smoldering forth an exotic perfume―gently, languorously.

Now far-off, across the distant horizon,
drop by shimmering drop,
fall the glistening dews of your beguiling glances.

With such tenderness and affection—oh my love!—
your memory has touched my heart's cheek so that it now seems
the sun of separation has set; the night of blessed union has arrived.



Speak!
by Faiz Ahmed Faiz
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Speak, while your lips are still free.
Speak, while your tongue remains yours.
Speak, while you’re still standing upright.
Speak, while your spirit has force.

See how, in the bright-sparking forge,
cunning flames set dull ingots aglow
as the padlocks release their clenched grip
on the severed chains hissing below.

Speak, in this last brief hour,
before the bold tongue lies dead.
Speak, while the truth can be spoken.
Say what must yet be said.



Speak! (II)
by Faiz Ahmed Faiz
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Speak, if your lips are free.
Speak, if your tongue's still your own.
And while you can still stand upright,
Speak if your mind is your own.



Tonight
by Faiz Ahmed Faiz
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Do not strike the melancholy chord tonight! Days smoldering
with pain in the end produce only listless ashes...
and who the hell knows what the future may bring?
Last night’s long lost, tomorrow's horizon’s a wavering mirage.
And how can we know if we’ll see another dawn?
Life is nothing, unless together we make it ring!
Tonight we are love gods! Sing!

Do not strike the melancholy chord tonight!
Don’t harp constantly on human suffering!
Stop complaining; let Fate conduct her song!
Give no thought to the future, seize now, this precious thing!
Shed no more tears for temperate seasons departed!
All sighs of the brokenhearted soon weakly dissipate... stop dithering!
Oh, do not strike the same flat chord again! Sing!



Do Not Ask
by Faiz Ahmed Faiz
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Do not ask, my love, for the love that we shared before:
You existed, I told myself, so existence shone.
For a moment the only light that I knew, alone,
was yours; worldly griefs remained dark, distant, afar.

Spring shone, as revealed in your face, but what did I know?
Beyond your bright eyes, what delights could the sad world hold?
Had I won you, cruel Fate would have ceded, no longer bold.
Yet all this was not to be, though I wished it so.

The world knows sorrows beyond love’s brief dreams betrayed,
and pleasures beyond all sweet, idle ideals of romance:
the dread dark spell of countless centuries and chance
is woven with silk and satin and gold brocade.

Bodies are sold everywhere for a pittance—it’s true!
Besmeared with dirt and bathed in bright oceans of blood,
Crawling from infested ovens, a gory cud.
My gaze returns to you: what else can I do?

Your beauty haunts me still, and will to the last.
But the world is burdened by sorrows beyond those of love,
By pleasures beyond romance.
So please do not demand a love that is over, and past.



When Autumn Came
by Faiz Ahmed Faiz
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

So it was that autumn came to flay the trees,
to strip them ****,
to rudely abase their slender dark bodies.

Fall fell in vengeance on the dying leaves,
flung them down to the floor of the forest
where anyone could trample them to mush
undeterred by their sighs of protest.

The birds that herald spring
were exiled from their songs—
the notes ripped from their sweet throats,
they plummeted to the earth below, undone
even before the hunter strung his bow.

Please, gods of May, have mercy!
Bless these disintegrating corpses
with the passion of your resurrection;
allow their veins to pulse with blood again.

Let at least one tree remain green.
Let one bird sing.



Wasted
by Faiz Ahmed Faiz
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

You have noticed her forehead, her cheeks, her lips...
In whose imagination I have lost everything.



Countless
by Faiz Ahmed Faiz
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

I recounted the world's countless griefs
by recounting your image countless times.



Mujh Se Pehli Si Mohabbat
by Faiz Ahmed Faiz
translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

for Lishaelle

Don't rekindle the love of lost days, my beloved.

I used to feel your presence would brighten my life;
That if I shared your grief, I could ignore my own struggles;
That your beauty assured me of perennial blossomings;
That there is nothing dearer than the sight of your eyes.

I thought being with you would enthrall the fates;
Alas, it was not to be, not so simple.
For the world has many sorrows apart from love’s
And there are reliefs more potent than our reunion.

Countless centuries bound by this dark enchantment,
Tender bodies draped in silks, satins and brocades
Are now being pandered in alleys and marketplaces,
Caked in ashes, dragged through dirt, drenched in blood.

Bodies fume from diseased furnaces;
Pus oozes from decomposing ulcers;
and yet I cannot look away, my love!
Your beauty remains as alluring as ever,
but how can I ignore the griefs surrounding me!

For the world has many sorrows apart from love’s
And there are more potent reliefs than our reunion.

Don't rekindle the love of lost days, my beloved.



Keywords/Tags: Faiz Ahmed Faiz, translation, Urdu, Pakistan, Pakistani, love, life, memory, spring, mrburdu

I take from the rich
And I give
To the richer
Grow money trees
And then watch the world wither
I've slithered
In gardens of green
Dripping red
With a purity hood
Draping over my head
I have poisoned the fountain
Of youth
To retain
My control of this endless
Monopoly game
As my capital gains
A skyscraper a day
To the skyrocket
Stock market
Locke's do I pray
Upon all to be blessed
With lavish excess
But succession of kings
My investment ******
To breed wealthier nations
Uncommon in man
Through unhealthier rations'
Invisible Hand
Do I muppet the mouths
And harp on the heartstrings
As I tug on the chains
Of the slaves
Freedom rings
And that fat lady sings
All she wants
I will cling
To this power
With eagle-lied,
Vulturous talons
Devour
The will
And then **** the bills,
Billing blood that I spill
With impunity
Robbery,
Poverty
Property
I am the law
There is no order stopping me
No cherry topping me
No global powers’
High towers
Are topping me
No master forces endorsed
Are out-shopping me
Spending spree
On the lost souls
Now to bending knee
Fall
And enthrall in the terror
Of my urban sprawl
Making maggots of masses'
Automaton dreams
Into my gilded ages'
New pyramid schemes
You can call me a liar
Truth is
No concern
To the one who reigns fire
With oil to burn
Down upon the deniers
Until they all learn
I'll recruit body bags
To preach life to the choir
And when the screen lags
Train these dogs to play dead,
Lay their own on a wire
In so doing shred
The carnage they desire
So I can play God
And with demons conspire
A masterful plan
To command the economy
Zombie hive mind
Get in line
For lobotomy
My progeny
Multiply to consume
And consume
And consume
'Til the ******* last fume
Dissipates into space
The good fortunes of Earth
All amounting to waste
With the mother who nurtured you
***** and disgraced
The four steeds
Of Apocalypse
Nothing but paste
For I win every time
I with you
Humans race

He was a magician
and she was a little girl in the stands,
mesmerized by his grace and power.
Wondering how he managed enthrall her,
how he never failed to impress,
how even though he kept pulling and pulling,
colorful tissues always appeared out of his sleeve,
as if there was an endless amount of wonders spilling from him.
magician // a.s.

prologue -

i demand you drop
all which you have not

and i'll offer you what
you've already got

-----------------------------------------------------------­----------------------------------------------

talisman of love

i want you to learn
what you can be
with love you'll earn
your potentiality

its a fear so great
than death itself
an event so rare
when love descends

with love you'll move
towards abyss
tremble and waver
with fear that grips

what will you do
when you cannot run
for it'll beckon you
like the morning sun

it gives a glimpse
into what you can be
for love attracts
you'll clearly see

but is that love
you hold so dear
meaninglessly
for which you cheer

its one false coin
which you invented
to fill your void
and live contented

for without love
life has no point
no charm or luck
no songs or rhyme

for without love
you cannot pray
and feel grateful
or celebrate

for with this love
does soul arise
and shadows below
ego that lies

just one empty gesture
without love life remains
just one possibility
that we all dream to gain

learn the art of nourishment
feed yourself with love
but know love isn't art itself
for it needs no effort

know your inner realms of being
find untrodden spaces
wherein love goes on and on
your aura it embraces

but in a tunnel you've been forced
you have been deeply rooted
one shallow fake guide for all
a love so very limited

you love your wife, wife loves you
children, parents and friends
all them keep on watching while
with truth falsehood contends

all different flavors of love
so neatly arranged
are put up on by who are lost
whom reality estranged

truth is that they fear love
for love does know no bounds
men all which who rule with blood
their spirits it confounds

in three layers of human being
body, spirit and mind
love exists on all three planes
with soul it does align

but here's this love which artists feel
sensitive and pure
thriving on that plane themselves
pulled by its allure

they do not think, they simply feel
because they live in heart
embracing beauties of this mind
the truth they lay apart

no wonder why people then
to love are so afraid
anything this beautiful
is also delicate

know how shards of broken glass
cannot together be put
for sentiments are not stones
treated like roses they should

love is like a fragrant rose
dancing in the rain
like one pious hearty breeze
through all daisies lain

but hearts do want to catch this wind
and call it all their own
but know they not it can't be caught
gilded or cast in stone

rare and few are those who learn
to live their life in moments
witness deeper love of heart
relish this blessed freshness

i don't know which love yours is
perhaps the common kind
are you afraid what shall happen
from life when you resign

certainly it will be gone
but you shall not lose all
a newer kind will arise
which world shall it enthrall

which belongs to privileged few
perhaps to one in millions
kind of love all that can
only be called lovingness

-----------------------------------------------------­------------------------------------------------------

talisma­n of love - gaining love

how it really happens
open your eyes and see
reject all other formulae for
a talisman i give thee

live in love, not for it
i teach you this truth plain
experience existence
in purest form obtain

that love you need i cannot give
but your path i'll light
explain to you how it forms
soak in its delight

these pseudo religions
and battered moral books
cage your soul in silken beams
suspend with silver hooks

you are free to experiment
if adult enough you are
hear nature herself confess
truth which hides so far

love so fake you are proud of
that binds you in soft smother
learn this much that you are you
and the other is other

if you want to taste divine
then jump within yourself
for only if you do renounce
you'll gain the lost itself

only love and its failure
can throw you on inside
if you wish to reach the shore
you have to tear these tides

i make you see this cunning plot
parasites designed for you
deceive, exploit and oppress
like coffin nails driven through

love others is all they say
dare love yourself not
to love yourself is selfish
or so you have been taught

love god, nature, wife and kids
they all go on saying
they all condemn self love
more than they do anything

a man who loves himself
finds no ego in him
one who loves himself not
this world will his soul skim

one can be in love yet be alone
like island in an ocean
when one IS love he is alone
rooted in midst of motion

like ocean throws its waves on shore
on a rock utterly alone
enjoy it like a breath of breeze
in moment born and gone

love is not some drunkenness
nor is it delusion
dissolution isn't unconsciousness
its solemn abdication

see your beauty in loneliness
this reflection foresee
lovers are mirrors to each other
in which they see their being

love makes you aware
of your original face
it celebrates togetherness
yet frees you from *******

--------------------------------------------------------­---------------------------------------------------

talisman of love - ritual of hate

love needs no reference
it is the height of freedom
hate you see is *******
for its simply a prison

when you do hate someone
you seed hate in his heart
water roots of jealousy
and crack your world apart

hate is imprisonment
hate provokes hate
violence real or in minds
you fall onto hell's bait

feel outpouring bliss
just share for sharing's sake
for no other motive
in this fest partake

'tis the other side of hate
the love that which you know
scratch your lover's ego and see
witness streams of hate flow

your love isn't really love
it is the very opposite
its hate disguised as love
a ritual you must admit

true love is spontaneous
welling up of joy
showering for no reason which
nothing can destroy

--------------------------------------------------------­---------------------------------------------------

talisman of love - reason to love

love without attachment
itself is the divine
for a bird put in cage
can never ever fly

when love in you is emperor
it'll make your soul liberate
and ask for nothing in turn
for rulers never trade

if there's passion in love
does it turn to hell
when there's attachment in love
it decays in golden shell

love can make you fall
it can soar you high
something so mysterious
which you cant subside

strengthen wings of your being
release to open sky
let this bird set out
on a journey to infinite

it is a door one side of which
you see yourself languish
at one side of which is pain
the other side is bliss

this makes no sense as some would say
"i loved yet gained just misery
reaped a crop of thorns i did
throughout my life's history"

their love did simply curtain
passion, jealousy and ***
from outside does what it seem
inside is something else

what was it you did long for
when you were in love
ask yourself if you were not
dazzled with shimmering lust

it shows itself in prayers all
real love becomes devotion
blossom like the spring it shall
and mark your liberation

lovers can't be sent to war
be thrown in dark cannot
for rebels listen to none
when deeper fears drop

when we say men fall in love
where do they fall from?
do they gain or do they shrink
what do they become?

ego has the eyes of reason
heart but is all blind
long as such you've trained yourself
thus love you cannot find

why must you tolerate
a bland mere existence
and prolong yourself till
death tries out your patience

you have done the same so far
tell me what's come of it
you still wont know what life means
something you must admit

if someone asks what life does mean
know well he lacks in love
it is the goal and reason for bliss
in each moment thereof

if someone loves, he need not ask
the meaning is right there
it encompasses all throughout
and nothing remains to spare

----------------------------------------------------------­-------------------------------------------------

talisman of love - truth of being**

do you see the truth in what
all that i have said?
do you feel the flow of love
or feel in grave instead?

do you feel it in your veins
or has your heart ceased
do you not see truth of being
in each and every piece

enter the enlightened kingdom
rising on the ray of love
when truth is to be known but
your love is to be felt of

one which reaps poison and nectar
you're really just that plant
to die by hate and bloom with love
in times heavens did grant

"i always love" you might say
i say you rarely do
you say that you still long for love
i find this childish too

you just throw this bait of love
not for the fish to eat
but to feed your egos on
a trader's two way street

to love and to need love
are two so different things
whoever wants love suffers
for beggars own nothing

it can only be given
not bought or bartered with
with money joy cant be owned
for sure it's all a myth

the path is not in sky
in your heart it lies
thus spake lord Buddha
a truth so plain and wise

Howling to an unseen moon
Pale luna,
Shine upon me your light
Beam upon my eyes
But a ray of moonlight
Dance across reflections
On the dark waters edge
Dance in your light
Oh pale luna

Enchant me, enthrall me
With your mysterious allure
Your gaze, your wonder
My most dazzling, brilliant muse
Shine upon me your grace
Your nature illusive
Just escaping my grasp
Brushing delicately past my fingertips
Pale luna
Oh pale luna

Bless me with your wisdom
Bestow upon me your gentle touch
But a simple gesture
Would grant me a great
Vast embrace of the heart
Without hands, yet ever
So tender and warm
Against the cold, dark night.

- Jay M
April 21st, 2022

One of the men who I always did brawl,
He did the same with me when I did sprawl
Against him in and around the school wall.
But I loved him as he supported in my fall.
He always who remained strong in squall.
His whole life is full of things big and small.
He had great powers to captivate and enthrall,
Which he used to control us full of gall.
I had been with him for nine years all –
All years nine or ten he did scrawl.
Is he selfish? Is he loving to all?
Is he egoist? Is he supporting in fall?
Such questions harassed my pitfall.
I got all answers positively in parasol –
He held my hands whenever I did call.
Made me what I’m now and took out from pall.
He is my inspiration, he is my ideal doll;
He is my guru, he is my cynic for my troll.

Batter my heart, three-person'd God, for you
As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;
That I may rise and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend
Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
I, like an usurp'd town to'another due,
Labor to'admit you, but oh, to no end;
Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,
But is captiv'd, and proves weak or untrue.
Yet dearly'I love you, and would be lov'd fain,
But am betroth'd unto your enemy;
Divorce me,'untie or break that knot again,
Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
Except you'enthrall me, never shall be free,
Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.

earn me
entice me
ensure me
enlighten me
enlist me
entertain me
effectuate me
envelope me
entrap me
enthrall me
enrapture me
enslave me
edify me
elate me
evolve me
elicit me
expand me
entrust me
employ me
equalize me
envy me
excise me
exhaust me
extinguish me
erode me
erase me
evict me
estrange me

exhume me

Batter my heart, three-personed God; for you
As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;
That I may rise and stand, o’erthrow me, and bend
Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
I, like an usurped town, to another due,
Labor to admit you, but O, to no end;
Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,
but is captived, and proves weak or untrue.
yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain,
But am betrothed unto your enemy.
Divorce me, untie or break that knot again;
Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
Nor even chaste, except you ravish me.

Rainbow
The colors speak and reveal red means you’re mad or hot or it could mean you’re a cool hot which everyone wants to achieve
Yellow means you’re mellow in some cases fear beats out courage and they call you coward that’s when mellow helps
Green with envy most unattractive but if your green references money then you’re loaded and envy switches to others
Blue you’re depressed you are moody if it causes you to beat the bad feelings then your blessed and can help someone else
Orange you got the juice or you’re a fruit or your characteristic of the pleasant ending of a day ending in dying beauty
Purple the skies greatest hue next to the azure blue the greatest canvass viewed and admired by all mankind freely
They say black isn’t a color but necessary to create a rainbow sets it off enriches deepens makes it stand out immeasurably
White again not a color represents day brightness purity the heart of a rainbow told on this backdrop exquisite power generates

A spiritual rain bow made of red hot fervor galvanized flesh and spirit in perfect harmony only one had it all others reflect it
Green without experience raw available receptive to the filling spiritual purity the essence of a holy life truly lived completely filled
Blue spiritual skies take flight to others invite these rarefied climes sadly empty of the very ones who need it most they neglect
Yellow marvel wonder speak and know God up close and personnel softest steps in holy reverence and awe you enthrall one and all
Purple ancient days it represented fabulous wealth this crest this winner’s wreath your soul now is made to wear forever
Orange speak with soft undertone your words glow no need to shout the landscape enriched the soul enlarged widest measure told
White should the darkest night break yes now that true light is found all that is unholy is expelled only evil cursed darkness dwells
Black the smoke ascends he said never by water he made a vow with a bow it is true with fire destruction the end will consume

Gallantry, the heart cannot entail,
Obscene and crude, blood formed as hail,
Ostentatiously coy, the maidens call,
Dissecting my spirit, your eyes enthrall,
Beloved your lips, I so long to kiss,
Yielding hope, begin to reminisce,
Enchanting laugh, music of Apollo,
Jasmine scent, unknowingly hollow,
Offering a goddess, pure gift of light
Consuming my heart, with nothing but spite,
Eyes of topaz, god’s gift to my world,
Lust mistaken as love, mind unfurled,
Youth is a curse, for a heart in distress,
Never will i know, your lips to caress

I must feed today
Feed, this lust, for pray
In my lair, I can not stay
Give me flesh with which to play
Soft throat with veins so frai
Fountain so thick, while life I drai
Give it to me, on a tray
The lazy, weak, naïve, ignorant, and grey
For one of you, I am the demon today
But I need this, before I can lay

A last look at my young, so small
Out from my lair I crawl
Into jungle so dense and tall
Near waterhole, my pray will sprawl
Oooh yes, that’s their call
Silently unsuspicious the closer I crawl
Wait caution now, for one stare and stall
I trust, my camouflage will stifle warning call
Closer and closer to herd I crawl
Now, herd in waterhole’s enthrall

I select my pray for the night
Rather at the back, just out of sight
Yes, this one will not fight
I must wait, there’s chance for flight
Take another sip, that’s right
Your senses will dim, more then slight
Now, the time is right
I pounce on him with all my might
“Hallo I’m Angel, how are you doing tonight?”
“It’s only $ 100 for the night”

Sing me a song of
This romance gone wrong
It sounds so intriguing, I can
Barely contain myself

I'm sorry, do I come off brash?
I feel distracted
Can I bite your skin?
Find the troubled,
Insecure soul deep within?

Why are you so tense?
Your skin's like an apple's
You both taste like rain
Strange...
Don't feel like playing games?

Sorry, this is coming off as nasty
Don't worry, I'm done
Just pass me by
There's a shard in your eye
As big as the touch that used to make me cry

Could I still be a stranger,
Though you know every turn?
Could confidently travel
Every bump, every curve
You love this land
Try to pick out parts that enthrall you the most
But by now,
You've said they're all your favorites
And I like that

If I'm an animal then you are my instinct
My predetermined pawprints and my next neck to breathe down
The limbs that help me prowl around
The air that dances with my tail,
Applying force where I cut the air

Forgive me I'm not good at this
Do I flaunt my step or **** my hip?
Fake being ansy or bite my lip?
Or we ***** this odd rhythm and skip right to the drop
I don't know what you're doing but I won't tell you to stop.

perplexity* is loving someone that you maybe shouldn’t.

perfection is the way you would scrunch up your nose when I spoke.

beauty is missing you when everyone says that I can’t.

enthralling
that’s you, absolutely and totally enthralling. fascinating, important. perfect.

Like an animal of the night, my wolf spirit chases,
An exquisite insanity, one in which I revel,
A slow prey with poisonous blood and sweat, with three faces
That, when caught, it whispers to me frailly, in hope to bedevil.

One face spits drunk and boiled spillage,
This one barks passionately without end.
The stock face of an accepted devilry, an advantage,
And an addictive **** that it lets out, a disadvantageous blend.

The other two look normal, but they rarely make sounds,
The deranged smoker is a thinker, a dying fool,
While the one in charge listens, teaches and knows,
While it fights with the other two.

The prey never runs away, but it sickly comes back to taunt my soul.
It tries to enthrall me with its black art, knowing my weaknesses by heart,
Sometimes I catch the prey, to which I whisper: “Feel my spit, black like a coal,
Never come back, you better hide, you haven’t seen yet my crazy part.”

And with a magical schism the prey splits
And hungry for adrenaline, my spirit chases them

the hanged empress
longing for the satyr
upon her throne she reflects
upon the gentle heart
pulsating somewhere
in the darkness

sweet mercury expells
from the lovers lips
and a song is revealed

"from neptunes deep, you hail,
o' empress beyond the clouds,
and beneath thine depths,
the prince of the earth lies in wait"

it will enthrall you with a gaze
ensnare you with a touch
and destroy you with a kiss

Tossed upon a coin

A single band
On a fair maidens hand

Starry showers Fall
Wedded bliss enthrall

From a magical spell
Of the enchanted
Wishing well

From over five thousand to less than five: I feel like it’s safe to say that the physical distance has officially been closed, though I’m laughing at the irony that is my life, for so much has changed since I first dreamt of this moment, and I’m wondering if any other kind of closeness would ever possibly ensue (though very much ambiguous, I’m thinking no).

So much is different, and I’m only musing, entertained by how circumstance has been presented, how much of myself has been altered, how estranged I feel that I’ve taken myself so far for the sake of pursuing an idea.

I’m giddy at not knowing, enthralled by delicious obscurity, fused with throes of adrenaline at mere contemplation of potential reconciliation, though unperturbed wholeheartedly by the threat of rejection, because my heart is no longer in your hands.

It belongs to myself again; I scooped it up from off the floor after you let it go, and I’m empowered by the independence instilled within my own soul. I will not break my own heart.

But we are no longer five thousand miles apart—less than five, even, and five months ago that self that loved you so profoundly and desperately deserves some kind of closure, and this new, strong self I’ve constructed has enough conviction and determination to coddle the old one if things go awry. But this travel, since circumstance has changed so greatly lately, is no longer about you.

You are not my sun, nor my moon—merely a constellation that, were I to get distracted, I can lose sight of easily, can confuse your luminescent patterns with the chaotic translation of stars around you.

If you send me away, shove a ******* at my face, I’ll melt the cold chip with self-love and graciously enthrall myself with the enchantment of travel. Whatever the outcome, I can’t lose.

Who art thou, who art thou, oh-who art thou?
With eyes as shiny and like seas blue,
and glittering smiles so deep and true.
Thy voice as flawless as the walls,
but sleek and charming as rainfalls.
With skin as bright and slender pearls,
and lips as sensuous as mortal worlds.
And with thy golden hair thou art pure and white
as thou lay t'ere tranquilly by my side.
Ah, touch and rub my hand against thine,
but all th' way keep me still in thy mind.
Wake my soul and heal its coldness,
but fill it with more loving tenderness!
Just like th' youthful soul of an old painting,
and th' playful pages of some crusted writing.
Or like th' old door and its generous windowsill,
capture my heart and send all my spines to shrills.
And stare just like t'at into my eyes,
with gazes so clear, sweet and wise.
But never ever hesitate my love,
just like gladness nurses and shelters its laughter,
and how springs yearn to taste long summers.
Ah, thy white skin so made of eternal shades
a symbol of youth t'at just never fades.
How canst, how canst thou be so comely?
And with thy grace thou art but too lovely
For my Eastern being to bear,
and my curious soul to share.
O thee, my Western, Western prince!
Make me all brave; lure and tease me
'Till I canst no more resist thee.
How could thou but slip and enthrall my songs-
whenst all whose tones hath just gone wrong!
Andst how could thou write my poem-
with its my coquettish, and girlish rhyme;
as if having in thy hand, endless wits and time!
Ah, I hopeth thou shalt always be with me,
and wert but born and sewn for me-
o, and always just for me, selfishly.
And at one bare noon lifts my love,
into thy hands and thy merry soul
becoming thy dream princess sole.

Comfort
An embrace
A kiss
A touch of the hand

Comfort
Can be given yet unwanted
Can be wanted yet unfulfilled
Can be received yet misconstrued
Can be the foundation of a lasting bond

Comfort
That's what I am to you

Comfort
I am relief
I am soft
I am strong
I am warm

Comfort Woman
Is this all I am to you?

Comfort
I am here when you need
Arms to hold you
Lips to graze over your skin
Fingers to explore your anatomy
You enthrall me
You amaze me
You touch my soul and tear it apart

Comfort
What happens when you don't need it anymore?
Do you disappear?
Or do I?

While I'm lying here comforting you
you don't realize that
at the same time
you're a comfort to me
but there's an ache in my chest
that knows I'm not the only one
I can be replaced for you
You can find comfort in many
That's great
That's fantastic
That's healthy

I. Can't. Do. The. Same.

I don't find comfort in many
but I find it in you
In ten years, I'll remember you
and how it feels to
lay on your chest
have your breath on my neck
your head on my shoulder

All I can do is hope
that you'll remember
just a piece of me:
that I was your best kept comfort

Capture me
with your voice
let it to my ears
instil a thrill
let it wash my soul
with its timbre
let its strength
calm my fears
in its tone I hear
all that a voice could
ever contain
the sun’s warmth
the soul’s wash
of the gentle rain
capture me with your voice
hold me
enthrall me, captivate me
thrill me now

To Have Loved
by Michael R. Burch

"The face that launched a thousand ships ..."

Helen, bright accompaniment,
accouterment of war as sure as all
the polished swords of princes groomed to lie
in mausoleums all eternity ...

The price of love is not so high
as never to have loved once in the dark
beyond foreseeing. Now, as dawn gleams pale
upon small wind-fanned waves, amid white sails, ...

now all that war entails becomes as small,
as though receding. Paris in your arms
was never yours, nor were you his at all.
And should gods call

in numberless strange voices, should you hear,
still what would be the difference? Men must die
to be remembered. Fame, the shrillest cry,
leaves all the world dismembered.

Hold him, lie,
tell many pleasant tales of lips and thighs;
enthrall him with your sweetness, till the pall
and ash lie cold upon him.

Is this all? You saw fear in his eyes, and now they dim
with fear’s remembrance. Love, the fiercest cry,
becomes gasped sighs in his once-gallant hymn
of dreamed “salvation.” Still, you do not care

because you have this moment, and no man
can touch you as he can ... and when he’s gone
there will be other men to look upon
your beauty, and have done.

Smile―woebegone, pale, haggard. Will the tales
paint this―your final portrait? Can the stars
find any strange alignments, Zodiacs,
to spell, or unspell, what held beauty lacks?

Published by The Raintown Review, Triplopia, The Electic Muse, The Chained Muse, The Pennsylvania Review, and in a YouTube recital by David B. Gosselin. This is, of course, a poem about the famous Helen of Troy, whose face "launched a thousand ships."
Keywords/Tags: Helen, Troy, Paris, love, war, gods, fate, destiny, portrait, fame, famous, stars, Zodiac, Zodiacs, star-crossed, spell, charm, potion, enchantment, Greece, Greek, mythology, legend, Homer, Odyssey, accompaniment, accouterment, eternal, eternity, immortal



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-******, 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.



Villanelle: She Always Grew Roses
by Michael R. Burch

for my grandmother, Lillian Lee

Tell us, heart, what the season discloses.
“Too little loved by the ego in its poses,
she always grew roses.”

What the heart would embrace, the ego opposes,
fritters away, and sometimes bulldozes.
Tell us, heart, what the season discloses.

“Too little loved by the ego in its poses,
she loved nonetheless, as her legacy discloses—
she always grew roses.”

How does one repent when regret discomposes?
When the shadow of guilt, at last, interposes?
Tell us, heart, what the season discloses.

“Too little loved by the ego in its poses,
she continued to love, as her handiwork shows us,
and she always grew roses.”

Too little, too late, the grieved heart imposes
its too-patient will as the opened book recloses.
Tell us, heart, what the season discloses.
“She always grew roses.”

The opened-then-closed book is a picture album. The season is late fall because it was in my autumn years that I realized I had written poems for everyone in my family except Grandma Lee. Hopefully it is never too late to repent and correct an old wrong.



Villanelle: Little Sparrow
by Michael R. Burch

for my petite grandmother, Christine Ena Hurt, who couldn’t carry a note, but sang her heart out with great joy, accompanied, I have no doubt, by angels

“In praise of Love and Life we bring
this sacramental offering.”
Little sparrow of a woman, sing!

What did she have? Hardly a thing.
A roof, plain food, and a tiny gold ring.
Yet, “In praise of Love and Life we bring

this sacramental offering.”
“Hosanna!” angel choirs ring.
Little sparrow of a woman, sing!

Whence comes this praise, as angels sing
to her tuneless voice? What of Death’s sting?
Yet, “In praise of Love and Life we bring

this sacramental offering.”
Let others have their stoles and bling.
Little sparrow of a woman, sing!

“In praise of Love and Life we bring
this sacramental offering
as the harps of beaming angels ring.
Little sparrow of a woman, sing!”



Villanelle of an Opportunist
by Michael R. Burch

I’m not looking for someone to save.
A gal has to do what a gal has to do:
I’m looking for a man with one foot in the grave.

How many highways to hell must I pave
with intentions imagined, not true?
I’m not looking for someone to save.

Fools praise compassion while weaklings rave,
but a gal has to do what a gal has to do.
I’m looking for a man with one foot in the grave.

Some praise the Lord but the Devil’s my fave
because he has led me to you!
I’m not looking for someone to save.

In the land of the free and the home of the brave,
a gal has to do what a gal has to do.
I’m looking for a man with one foot in the grave.

Every day without meds becomes a close shave
and the razor keeps tempting me too.
I’m not looking for someone to save:
I’m looking for a man with one foot in the grave.



EPIGRAM TRANSLATIONS BY MICHAEL R. BURCH

Speechless at Auschwitz
by Ko Un
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

At Auschwitz
piles of glasses
mountains of shoes ...
returning, we stared out different windows.

Ko Un speaks for all of us, by not knowing what to say about the evidence of the Holocaust, and man's inhumanity to man.

Ko Un was speechless at Auschwitz.
Someday, when it’s too late,
will we be speechless at Gaza?
—Michael R. Burch



Booksellers laud authors for novel editions
as pimps praise their ****** for exotic positions.
—Thomas Campion, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

A question that sometimes drives me hazy:
am I or are the others crazy?
—Albert Einstein, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Elevate your words, not their volume. Rain grows flowers, not thunder.—Rumi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Why should I brood when every petal of my being is blossoming?—Rumi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

What you seek also pursues you.—Rumi, loose translation by Michael R. Burch

This is love: to fly toward a mysterious sky,
to cause ten thousand veils to fall.
First, to stop clinging to life,
then to step out, without feet ...
—Rumi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Love renders reason senseless.
—Rumi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

I test the tightrope
balancing a child
in each arm.
—Vera Pavlova, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Let me live with joy today, since tomorrow is unforeseeable.
—Palladas of Alexandria, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

To live without philosophizing is to close one's eyes and never attempt to open them. – Rene Descartes, loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Religion is the ****** of the people.—Karl Marx
Religion is the dopiate of the sheeple.—Michael R. Burch

How happy the soul who speeds back to the Source,
but crowned with peace is the one who never came.
—a Sophoclean passage from the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Improve yourself by others' writings, attaining freely what they purchased at the expense of experience. — Socrates, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Improve yourself by others' writings, attaining freely what they purchased at great expense.
—Socrates, translation by Michael R. Burch



EPIGRAMS BY MICHAEL R. BURCH



Brief Fling
by Michael R. Burch

“Epigram”
means cram,
then scram!

Published by Brief Poems, Poem Today and The HyperTexts



Brief Fling II
by Michael R. Burch

To write an epigram,
cram.
If you lack wit, scram!

Published by Brief Poems, Ethnu Couplet and The HyperTexts



Brief Fling III
by Michael R. Burch

No one gives a **** about my epigram?
And yet they’ll spend billions on Boy George and Wham!
Do they have any idea just how hard I cram?



Nod to the Master
by Michael R. Burch

for the Divine Oscar Wilde

If every witty thing that’s said were true,
Oscar Wilde, the world would worship You!



Stage Fright
by Michael R. Burch

To be or not to be?
In the end Hamlet
opted for naught.



****** Errata
by Michael R. Burch

I didn’t mean to love you; if I did,
it came unbid-
en, and should’ve remained hid-
den!



*******
by Michael R. Burch

You came to me as rain breaks on the desert
when every flower springs to life at once.
But joys are wan illusions to the expert:
the Bedouin has learned how not to want.



Love is either wholly folly,
or fully holy.
—Michael R. Burch



Intimations
by Michael R. Burch

Let mercy surround us
with a sweet persistence.

Let love propound to us
that life is infinitely more than existence.



Less Heroic Couplets: Marketing 101
by Michael R. Burch

Building her brand, she disrobes,
naked, except for her earlobes.



Less Heroic Couplets: Shell Game
by Michael R. Burch

I saw a turtle squirtle!
Before you ask, “How fertile?”
The squirt came from its mouth.
Why do your thoughts fly south?



The best tonic for other people's bad ideas is to think for oneself.—Michael R. Burch

I will never grok picking a picky rule over a Poem!—Michael R. Burch

Experience is the best teacher but a hard taskmaster.—Michael R. Burch

Wayne Gretzky was pure skill poured into skates.—Michael R. Burch

Neither the leaf nor the tree laments karma.—Michael R. Burch



Less Heroic Couplets: Gilded Silence
by Michael R. Burch

Golden silence reigned supreme
in my nightmare and her dream.



She is brighter than dawn
by Michael R. Burch

for Beth

There’s a light about her
like the moon through a mist:
a bright incandescence
with which she is blessed

and my heart to her light
like the tide now is pulled . . .
she is fair, O, and bright
like the moon silver-veiled.

There’s a fire within her
like the sun’s leaping forth
to lap up the darkness
of night from earth's hearth

and my eyes to her flame
like twin moths now are drawn
till my heart is consumed.
She is brighter than dawn.



The Difference
by Michael R. Burch

The chimneysweeps
will weep
for Blake,
who wrote his poems
for their dear sake.

The critics clap,
polite, for you.
Another poem
for poets,
Whooo!



Crunch
by Michael R. Burch

for Trump

A cockroach could live nine months on the dried mucus you scrounge from your nose
then fling like seedplants to the slowly greening floor ...

You claim to be the advanced life form, but, mon frere,
sometimes as you ****** encrusted kinks of hair from your Leviathan ***
and muse softly on zits, icebergs snap off the Antarctic.

You’re an evolutionary quandary, in need of a sacral ganglion
to control your enlarged, contradictory hindquarters:
surely the brain should migrate closer to its primary source of information,
in order to ensure the survival of the species.

Cockroaches thrive on eyeboogers and feces;
their exoskeletons expand and gleam like burnished armor in the presence of uranium.
But your cranium
     is not nearly so adaptable.

“Crunch” is a poem about evolution and survival of the fittest which questions where human beings really are the planet earth’s most advanced life forms. Keywords/Tags: evolution, global warming, insects, cockroaches, advance life form, survival of the fittest, adaptability



Teddy Roosevelt spoke softly and carried a big stick; Donald Trump speaks loudly and carries a big shtick.—Michael R. Burch



Viral Donald (I)
by Michael R. Burch aka "The Loyal Opposition"

Donald Trump is coronaviral:
his brain's in a downward spiral.
His pale nimbus of hair
proves there's nothing up there
but an empty skull, fluff and denial.



Viral Donald (II)
by Michael R. Burch aka "The Loyal Opposition"

Why didn't Herr Trump, the POTUS,
protect us from the Coronavirus?
That weird orange corona of hair's an alarm:
Trump is the Virus in Human Form!



Limerick-Ode to a Much-Eaten ***
by Michael R. Burch

There wonst wus a president, Trump,
whose greatest *** (et) wus his ****.
It was padded ’n’ shiny,
that great orange hiney,
but to drain it we’d need a sump pump!



The Less-Than-Divine Results of My Prayers to be Saved from Televangelists
by Michael R. Burch

I’m old,
no longer bold,
just cold,
and (truth be told),
been bought and sold,
rolled
by the wolves and the lambs in the fold.

Who’s to be told
by this worn-out scold?
The complaint department is always on hold.



Poets laud Justice’s
high principles.
Trump just gropes
her raw genitals.
—Michael R. Burch



Teeter Tots
by Michael R. Burch

For your spuds to become Tater Tots,
first, artfully cut out the knots,
then dice them to cubes
deep-fried, served to rubes,
(but not if they’re acting like snots).

Thy country, Wilberforce, with just disdain,
Hears thee, by cruel men and impious, call'd
Fanatic, for thy zeal to loose th' enthrall'd
From exile, public sale, and slav'ry's chain.
Friend of the poor, the wrong'd, the fetter-gall'd,
Fear not lest labour such as thine be vain!
Thou hast achiev'd a part; hast gain'd the ear
Of Britain's senate to thy glorious cause;
Hope smiles, joy springs, and tho' cold caution pause
And weave delay, the better hour is near,
That shall remunerate thy toils severe
By peace for Afric, fenc'd with British laws.
    Enjoy what thou hast won, esteem and love
    From all the just on earth, and all the blest above!

Fragrance of body and sensual delights
Help me to explore new beautiful heights
When we enjoy and find jubilant flights
Rainbow spreads and kisses love kites

You and me are together in trance
Life has offered this wonderful chance
Kiss on forehead glitters the romance
Souls and bodies enthrall in dance

We can conquer world being one
Kiss your feet moon, stars and sun
Caress you and touch you in fun
Hurriedly all complete job undone

My beloved you are like a light in me
Through your eyes I just praise to see
What is the world and how could it be
Like petals of a rose so near are we

Col Muhammad Khalid Khan
Copyright 2016 Golden Glow

669

No Romance sold unto
Could so enthrall a Man
As the perusal of
His Individual One—
’Tis Fiction’s—When ’tis small enough
To Credit—’Tisn’t true!

bridge to heaven,
apex of the earth and sky;
west by north, corner of a nation.
where the ocean deep and blue,
rises from its depths
to join the hands of sea blown grass,
together reach for cotton wisps,
the cirrus clouds aloft to clasp,
teasing curling locks of hair
in a brilliant sapphire sky.
garden where the angels visit,
stoop to touch the darkened sod;
swoop to give a breezy nod,
a soft salvé from above;
joining sailing boats
with colors flying,
their wings of sheets
catch winds offshore;
waves collide in dance,
splash at bow en-trance,
curtsying like a curtain call,
here at play they soothe, enthrall;
transporting, lifting, cavorting, gifting,
on breezes light with gentle lofting,
Zephyrus sends them over yonder,
ever distant, ever stronger,
’cross the strait to reach her border.
port of angels, home to men,
bridge to offer sweet descent...
this, the end of jacob’s ladder,
dream of angel’s softened laughter,
listen close you’ll hear their whispers,
words of grace in flowing vespers
blowing down from snow-capped ridge
gently ’cross the angel’s bridge.