Your breasts are perfect for your lithe, slender body. Please stop making false comparisons your hobby!
Excerpt from Love Sonnet XVII by Pablo Neruda loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
I do not love you like coral or topaz, or the blazing hearth’s incandescent white flame; I love you as obscure things are embraced in the dark ... secretly, in shadows, unnamed & untamed.
Every Day You Play by Pablo Neruda loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Every day you play with Infinity’s rays. Exquisite visitor, you arrive with the flowers and the water. You are vastly more than this immaculate head I clasp tightly like a cornucopia, every day, with ecstatic hands ...
I love you only because I love you by Pablo Neruda loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
I love you only because I love you; I am torn between loving and not loving you, Between apathy and desire. My heart vacillates between ice and fire.
Without the drama of cymbals or the fanfare and snares of drums, I present my case stripped of its fine veneer: Behold, thy instrument.
Play, for the night is long.
Birdsong by Rumi loose translation by Michael R. Burch
Birdsong relieves my deepest griefs: now I'm just as ecstatic as they, but with nothing to say! Please universe, rehearse your poetry through me!
Raise your words, not their volume. Rain grows flowers, not thunder. ―Rumi, translation by Michael R. Burch
Little sparks may ignite great flames. ―Dante, translation by Michael R. Burch No wind is favorable to the man who lacks direction. ―Seneca the Younger, translation by Michael R. Burch
You can crop all the flowers but you cannot detain spring. ―Pablo Neruda, translation by Michael R. Burch
Improve yourself by other men's writings, attaining less painfully what they achieved through great difficulty. ―Socrates, translation by Michael R. Burch
You can crop all the flowers but you cannot detain spring.―Pablo Neruda, translation by Michael R. Burch
My objective is not to side with the majority, but to avoid the ranks of the insane.―Marcus Aurelius, translation by Michael R. Burch
Improve yourself by other men's writings, attaining less painfully what they gained through great difficulty.―Socrates, translation by Michael R. Burch
An unbending tree breaks easily. ―Lao Tzu, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Booksellers laud authors for novel editions as pimps praise their w****s for exotic positions. ―Thomas Campion, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Both victor and vanquished are dewdrops:
flashes of light
briefly illuminating the void.
―Ouchi Yoshitaka, loose translation/interpretation of his jisei (death poem) by Michael R. Burch
While nothing can save us from death, still love can redeem each breath. ―Pablo Neruda, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Fools call wisdom foolishness. ―Euripides, translation by Michael R. Burch
One true friend is worth ten thousand kin.
―Euripides, translation by Michael R. Burch
Not to speak one’s mind is slavery. ―Euripides, translation by Michael R. Burch
I would rather die standing than kneel, a slave. ―Euripides, translation by Michael R. Burch
Fresh tears are wasted on old griefs. ―Euripides, translation by Michael R. Burch
Once fanaticism has gangrened brains the incurable malady invariably remains. ―Voltaire, translation by Michael R. Burch
Hypocrisy may deceive the most perceptive adult, but the dullest child recognizes and is revolted by it, however ingeniously disguised. ―Leo Tolstoy, translation by Michael R. Burch
Religion is the opiate of the people.―Karl Marx Religion is the dopiate of the sheeple.―Michael R. Burch
Just as I select a ship when it's time to travel, or a house when it's time to change residences, even so I will choose when it's time to depart from life. ―Seneca, speaking about the right to euthanasia in the first century AD, translation by Michael R. Burch
To write an epigram, cram. If you lack wit, scram! ―Michael R. Burch Chiasmus and Spoonerisms
To avoid being a hack writer, hack away at your writing.―Michael R. Burch
To fall an inch short of infinity is to fall infinitely short.―Michael R. Burch
Love is either wholly folly or fully holy. ―Michael R. Burch
Love's full of cute paradoxes and highly acute poxes. ―Michael R. Burch
When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice. ―White Elk, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Native American Proverb loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Before you judge a man for his sins be sure to trudge many moons in his moccasins.
Native American Proverb by Crazy Horse, Oglala Lakota Sioux (circa 1840-1877) loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
A man must pursue his Vision as the eagle explores the sky's deepest blues.
Native American Proverb loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Let us walk respectfully here among earth's creatures, great and small, remembering, our footsteps light, that one wise God created all.
Autumn Conundrum by Michael R. Burch
It’s not that every leaf must finally fall, it’s just that we can never catch them all.
Piercing the Shell by Michael R. Burch
If we strip away all the accouterments of war, perhaps we’ll discover what the heart is for.
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.
Love is either wholly folly, or fully holy. ―Michael R. Burch
Civility is the ability to disagree freely but always agreeably. ―Michael R. Burch
Bible Libel by Michael R. Burch
If God is good, half the Bible is libel. I have my doubts about your God and his “love”: If one screams below, what the hell is “Above”? ―Michael R. Burch
The best tonic for other people's bad ideas is to think for oneself. ―Michael R. Burch
Hell hath no fury like a fundamentalist whose God condemned him for having "impure thoughts." ―Michael R. Burch
Religion is the difficult process of choosing the least malevolent invisible friends. ―Michael R. Burch
If God has the cattle on a thousand hills, why does he need my tithes to pay his bills? ―Michael R. Burch
God and his "profits" could never agree on any gospel acceptable to an intelligent flea. ―Michael R. Burch
Inconstant Temptress by Michael R. Burch
Love, beautiful but fatal to many bewildered hearts, commands us to be faithful, then tempts us with sweets and tarts.
15 Seconds by Michael R. Burch aka "The Loyal Opposition"
Our president’s sex life―atrocious!
His "briefings"―bizarre hocus-pocus!
Politics―"a shell game.
My brief moment of fame? It flashed by before Oprah could notice!
A Basement Poem by Michael R. Burch
Love should be more than the sum of its parts― of its potions and pills and subterranean arts.
Sudden Shower by Michael R. Burch
The day’s eyes were blue until you appeared and they wept at your beauty.
Dark Cloud, Silver Lining by Michael R. Burch excerpt from "Love in the Time of the Coronavirus"
Despite my stormy demeanor, my hands have never been cleaner!
The Secret of Her Clothes
by Michael R. Burch
The secret of her clothes is that they whisper a little mysteriously of things unseen
in the language of nylon and cotton, so that when she walks to her amorous drawers
to rummage among the embroidered hearts and rumors of pastel slips for a white wisp of Victorian lace,
the delicate rustle of fabric on fabric, the slightest whisper of telltale static, electrifies me.
Published by Erosha, Velvet Avalanche (Anthology) and Poetry Life & Times
Kissin’ ’n’ buzzin’ by Michael R. Burch
Kissin’ ’n’ buzzin’ the bees rise in a dizzy circle of two. Oh, when I’m with you, I feel like kissin’ ’n’ buzzin’ too!
Warming Her Pearls by Michael R. Burch
Warming her pearls, her breasts gleam like constellations. Her belly is a bit rotund ... she might have stepped out of a Rubens.
Dark Cloud, Silver Lining from “Love in the Time of the Coronavirus” by Michael R. Burch
Despite my stormy demeanor, my hands have never been cleaner!
Questionable Credentials by Michael R. Burch
Poet? Critic? Dilettante? Do you know what's good, or do you merely flaunt?
Published by Asses of Parnassus, the first poem in the April 2017 issue
Delicacy by Michael R. Burch
for all good mothers
Your love is as delicate as a butterfly cleaning its wings, as soft as the predicate the hummingbird sings to itself, gently murmuring― “Fly! Fly! Fly!” Your love is the string soaring kites untie.
The Greatest of These ... by Michael R. Burch
The hands that held me tremble. The arms that lifted fall.
Angelic flesh, now parchment, is held together with gauze.
But her undimmed eyes still embrace me; there infinity can be found.
I can almost believe such love will reach me, underground.
These are poems I have written about Shakespeare, poems I have written for Shakespeare, and poems I have written after Shakespeare.
Fleet Tweet: Apologies to Shakespeare by Michael R. Burch a tweet by any other name would be as fleet! @mikerburch Fleet Tweet II: Further Apologies to Shakespeare by Michael R. Burch
Remember, doggonit, heroic verse crowns the Shakespearean sonnet! So if you intend to write a couplet, please do it on the doublet! @mikerburch Stage Fright by Michael R. Burch
To be or not to be? In the end Hamlet opted for naught.
Ophelia by Michael R. Burch
for Kevin N. Roberts
Ophelia, madness suits you well, as the ocean sounds in an empty shell, as the moon shines brightest in a starless sky, as suns supernova before they die ...
Shakespeare's Sonnet 130 Refuted by Michael R. Burch, circa age 18
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun; Coral is far more red than her lips' red; �" Shakespeare, Sonnet 130
Seas that sparkle in the sun without its light would have no beauty; but the light within your eyes is theirs alone; it owes no duty. Whose winsome flame, not half so bright, is meant for me, and brings delight.
Coral formed beneath the sea, though scarlet-tendriled, cannot warm me; while your lips, not half so red, just touching mine, at once inflame me. Whose scorching flames mild lips arouse fathomless oceans fail to douse.
Bright roses’ brief affairs, declared when winter comes, will wither quickly. Your cheeks, though paler when compared with them?�"more lasting, never prickly. Whose tender cheeks, so enchantingly warm, far vaster treasures, harbor no thorns.
Originally published by Romantics Quarterly
This was my first sonnet, written in my teens after I discovered Shakespeare's "Sonnet 130." At the time I didn't know the rules of the sonnet form, so mine is a bit unconventional. I think it is not bad for the first attempt of a teen poet. I remember writing this poem in my head on the way back to my dorm from a freshman English class. I would have been 18 or 19 at the time.
Attention Span Gap by Michael R. Burch
What if a poet, Shakespeare, were still living to tweet to us here? He couldn't write sonnets, just couplets, doggonit, and we wouldn't have Hamlet or Lear!
Yes, a sonnet may end in a couplet, which we moderns can write in a doublet, in a flash, like a tweet. Does that make it complete? Should a poem be reduced to a stublet?
Bring back that Grand Era when men had attention spans long as their pens, or rather the quills of the monsieurs and fils who gave us the Dress, not its hem!
Chloe by Michael R. Burch
There were skies onyx at night... moons by day... lakes pale as her eyes... breathless winds undressing tall elms ... she would say that we’d loved, but I figured we'd sinned.
Soon impatiens too fiery to stay sagged; the crocus bells drooped, golden-limned; things of brightness, rinsed out, ran to gray... all the light of that world softly dimmed.
Where our feet were inclined, we would stray; there were paths where dead weeds stood untrimmed, distant mountains that loomed in our way, thunder booming down valleys dark-hymned.
What I found, I found lost in her face while yielding all my virtue to her grace.
“Chloe” is a Shakespearean sonnet about being parted from someone you wanted and expected to be with forever. It was originally published by Romantics Quarterly as "A Dying Fall"
Sonnet: The City Is a Garment by Michael R. Burch
A rhinestone skein, a jeweled brocade of light,�" the city is a garment stretched so thin her festive colors bleed into the night, and everywhere bright seams, unraveling,
cascade their brilliant contents out like coins on motorways and esplanades; bead cars come tumbling down long highways; at her groin a railtrack like a zipper flashes sparks;
her hills are haired with brush like cashmere wool and from their cleavage winking lights enlarge and travel, slender fingers ... softly pull themselves into the semblance of a barge.
When night becomes too chill, she softly dons great overcoats of warmest-colored dawn.
“The City is a Garment” is a Shakespearean sonnet.
Afterglow by Michael R. Burch
for Beth
The night is full of stars. Which still exist? Before time ends, perhaps one day we’ll know. For now I hold your fingers to my lips and feel their pulse ... warm, palpable and slow ...
once slow to match this reckless spark in me, this moon in ceaseless orbit I became, compelled by wilder gravity to flee night’s universe of suns, for one pale flame ...
for one pale flame that seemed to signify the Zodiac of all, the meaning of love’s wandering flight past Neptune. Now to lie in dawning recognition is enough ...
enough each night to bask in you, to know the face of love ... eyes closed ... its afterglow.
“Afterglow” is a Shakespearean sonnet.
I Learned Too Late by Michael R. Burch
“Show, don’t tell!”
I learned too late that poetry has rules, although they may be rules for greater fools.
In any case, by dodging rules and schools, I avoided useless duels.
I learned too late that sentiment is bad�" that Blake and Keats and Plath had all been had.
In any case, by following my heart, I learned to walk apart.
I learned too late that “telling” is a crime. Did Shakespeare know? Is Milton doing time?
In any case, by telling, I admit: I think such rules are s**t.
Heaven Bent by Michael R. Burch
This life is hell; it can get no worse. Summon the coroner, the casket, the hearse! But I’m upwardly mobile. How the hell can I know? I can only go up; I’m already below!
This is a poem in which I imagine Shakespeare speaking through a modern Hamlet.
That Mella Fella by Michael R. Burch
John Mella was the longtime editor of Light Quarterly.
There once was a fella named Mella, who, if you weren’t funny, would tell ya. But he was cool, clever, nice, gave some splendid advice, and if you did well, he would sell ya.
Shakespeare had his patrons and publishers; John Mella was one of my favorites in the early going, along with Jean Mellichamp Milliken of The Lyric.
Chip Off the Block by Michael R. Burch
for Jeremy
In the fusion of poetry and drama, Shakespeare rules! Jeremy’s a ham: a chip off the block, like his father and mother. Part poet? Part ham? Better run for cover! Now he’s Benedick �" most comical of lovers!
NOTE: Jeremy’s father is a poet and his mother is an actress; hence the fusion, or confusion, as the case may be.
NOTE: The calla lily symbolizes beauty, purity, innocence, faithfulness and true devotion. According to Greek mythology, when the Milky Way was formed by the goddess Hera’s breast milk, the drops that fell to earth became calla lilies.
Sappho, fragment 31 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
... at the sight of you, words fail me ...
Sappho, fragment 24 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
... don't you remember, in days bygone ... how we, too, did such things, being young?
Sappho, fragment 118 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
Sing, my sacred tortoiseshell lyre; come, let my words accompany your voice.
Sappho, fragment 58 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
Pain drains me to the last drop .
Sappho, fragment 90 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
Mother, how can I weave, so overwhelmed by love?
Sappho, fragment 29 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
Someone, somewhere will remember us, I swear!
Sappho, unnumbered fragment loose translation by Michael R. Burch
What cannot be swept aside must be wept.
Sappho, fragment 34 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
You are, of all the unapproachable stars, by far the fairest, the brightest― possessing the Moon's splendor.
Sappho, fragment 34 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
Awed by the Moon's splendor, the stars covered their undistinguished faces. Even so, we.
Sappho, fragment 39 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
We're merely mortal women, it's true; the Goddesses have no rivals but You.
Sappho, fragment 5 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
We're eclipsed here by your presence― you outshine all the ladies of Lydia as the bright-haloed moon outsplendors the stars.
Sappho, fragment 35 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
With my two small arms, how can I think to encircle the sky?
Sappho, fragment 2 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
Leaving your heavenly summit, I submit to the mountain, then plummet.
Sappho, fragment 129 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
You forget me or you love another more! It's over.
Sappho, fragment 16 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
Warriors on rearing chargers, columns of infantry, fleets of warships: some say these are the dark earth's redeeming visions. But I say― the one I desire.
And this makes sense because she who so vastly surpassed all mortals in beauty ―Helen― seduced by Aphrodite, led astray by desire, set sail for distant Troy, abandoning her celebrated husband, leaving behind her parents and child!
Her story reminds me of Anactoria, who has also departed, and whose lively dancing and lovely face I would rather see than all the horsemen and war-chariots of the Lydians, or all their infantry parading in flashing armor.
Sappho, fragment 137 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
Gold does not rust, yet my son becomes dust?
Sappho, fragment 36 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
Vain woman, foolish thing! Do you base your worth on a ring?
Sappho, fragment 113 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
No droning bee, nor even the bearer of honey for me!
Sappho, fragment 113 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
Neither the honey nor the bee for me!
Sappho, fragment 130 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
May the gods prolong the night -- "yes, let it last forever! -- as long as you sleep in my sight.
Sappho, fragment 37 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
I'm undecided. My mind? Divided.
Sappho, fragment 37 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
Unsure as a babe new-born, My mind is divided, torn.
Sappho, fragment 37 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
I don't know what to do: My mind is divided, two.
Sappho, fragment 52 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
The moon has long since set; the Pleiades are gone; now half the night is spent, yet here I lie, alone. Sappho, fragment 100 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
When the bride comes let her train rejoice!
Sappho, fragment 90 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
Bridegroom, was there ever a maid so like a lovely heirloom?
Sappho, fragment 19 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
You anoint yourself with the most exquisite perfume.
Sappho, fragment 120 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
But I'm no resenter; I have a childlike heart ...
Sappho, fragment 80 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
May your head rest on the breast of the tenderest guest.
Sappho, fragment 80 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
Is my real desire for maidenhood?
Sappho, fragment 80 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
Is there any synergy in virginity?
Sappho, fragment 75 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
Dica! Do not enter the presence of Goddesses ungarlanded! First weave sprigs of dill with those delicate hands, if you desire their favor!
Sappho, fragment 79 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
I cherish extravagance, intoxicated by Love's celestial splendor.
Sappho, fragment 79 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
I love the sensual as I love the sun's ecstatic brilliance.
Sappho, fragment 81 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
Assemble now, Muses, leaving golden landscapes!
Sappho, fragment 29 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
Darling, let me see your face; unleash your eyes' grace.
Sappho, fragment 29 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
Turn to me, favor me with your eyes' acceptance.
Sappho, fragment 29 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
Look me in the face, smile, reveal your eyes' grace ...
Sappho, fragment 4 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
The moon shone, full as the virgins ringed Love's altar ...
Sappho, fragment 11 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
You inflame me!
Sappho, fragment 11 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
You ignite and inflame me ... You melt me.
Sappho, fragment 12 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
I am an acolyte of wile-weaving Aphrodite.
Sappho, fragment 14 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
Eros descends from heaven, discarding his imperial purple mantle.
Sappho, fragment 35 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
Although you are very dear to me you must marry a younger filly: for I'm by far too old for you, and this old mare's just not that damn silly.
Sappho, after Anacreon loose translation by Michael R. Burch
Once more I dive into this fathomless sea, intoxicated by lust.
Sappho, after Menander loose translation by Michael R. Burch
Some say Sappho was the first ardent maiden goaded by wild emotion to fling herself from the white-frothed rocks into this raging ocean for love of Phaon ... but others reject that premise and say it was Aphrodite, for love of Adonis.
Sappho, fragment 3 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
To me that boy seems blessed by the gods because he sits beside you, basking in your brilliant presence.
The sound of your voice roils my heart! Your laughter?―bright water, dislodging pebbles
in a chaotic vortex. You suck up my breath! My heart bucks in my ribs. I can't breathe. I can't speak.
My breasts glow with intense heat; desire's blush-inducing fires redden my flesh. My ears seem hollow; they ring emptily. My tongue is broken and cleaves to its roof.
I sweat profusely. I shiver. Suddenly, I grow pale and feel only a second short of dying. And yet I must endure, somehow,
despite my poverty.
Sappho, fragment 93 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
You're the sweetest apple reddening on the highest bough, which the harvesters missed, or forgot―somehow―
or perhaps they just couldn't reach you, then or now.
Sappho, fragment 145 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
Prometheus the Fire-Bearer robbed the Gods of their power, and so brought mankind and himself to woe ... must you repeat his error?
Sappho, fragment 159 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
May I lead? Will you follow? Foolish man!
Ears so hollow, minds so shallow, never can!
Sappho, fragments 122 & 123 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
Your voice― a sweeter liar than the lyre, more dearly sold and bought, than gold.
Sappho, fragment 42 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
She wrapped herself then in most delicate linen.
Sappho, fragment 70 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
That rustic girl bewitches your heart? Hell, her most beguiling art's hiking the hem of her dress to seduce you with her ankles' nakedness!
Sappho, fragment 94 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
Shepherds trample the larkspur whose petals empurple the heath, foreshadowing shepherds' grief.
Sappho, fragment 100 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
The softest pallors grace her lovely face.
Sappho, fragment 36 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
I yearn for―I burn for―the one I miss!
Sappho, fragment 30 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
Maidens, keeping vigil all night long, go make a lovely song, someday, out of desires you abide for the violet-petalled bride.
Or better yet―arise, regale! Go entice the eligible bachelors so that we shocked elders can sleep less than love-plagued nightingales!
Sappho, fragment 121 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
A tender maiden plucking flowers persuades the knave to heroically brave the world's untender hours.
Sappho, fragment 68 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
Lady, soon you'll lie dead, disregarded; then imagine how quickly your reputation fades ... you who never gathered the roses of Pieria must assume your place among the obscure, uncelebrated shades.
Sappho, fragment 137 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
Death is evil; the Gods all agree; for, had death been good, the Gods would be mortal like me.
Sappho, fragment 43 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
Come, dear ones, let us cease our singing: morning dawns.
Sappho, fragment 14 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
Today may buffeting winds bear my distress and care away.
Sappho, fragment 15 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
Just now I was called, enthralled, by the golden-sandalled dawn...
Sappho, fragment 69 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
Into the soft arms of the girl I once spurned, I gladly returned.
Sappho, fragment 29 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
Since my paps are dry and my barren womb rests, let me praise lively girls with violet-sweet breasts.
Sappho, fragment 1 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
Beautiful swift sparrows rising on whirring wings flee the dark earth for the sun-bright air ...
Sappho, fragment 58 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
The girls of the ripening maidenhead wore garlands.
Sappho, fragment 94 & 98 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
Listen, my dear; by the Goddess I swear that I, too, (like you) had to renounce my false frigidity and surrender my virginity. My wedding night was not so bad; you too have nothing to fear, so be glad! (But then why do I still sometimes think with dread of my lost maidenhead?)
Sappho, fragment 100 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
Bridegroom, rest on the tender breast of the maiden you love best.
Sappho, fragment 103 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
Maidenhead! Maidenhead! So swiftly departed! Why have you left us forever brokenhearted?
Sappho, fragment 2 loose translation by Michael R. Burch, after Sappho and Tennyson
I sip the cup of costly death; I lose my color; I catch my breath whenever I contemplate your presence, or absence.
Sappho, fragment 2 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
How can I compete with that damned man who fancies himself one of the gods, impressing you with his "eloquence," when just the thought of sitting in your radiant presence, of hearing your lovely voice and lively laughter, sets my heart hammering at my breast? Hell, when I catch just a quick glimpse of you, I'm left speechless, tongue-tied, and immediately a blush like a delicate flame reddens my skin. Then my vision dims with tears, my ears ring, I sweat profusely, and every muscle in my body trembles. When the blood finally settles, I grow paler than summer grass, till in my exhausted madness, I'm as limp as the dead. And yet I must risk all, being bereft without you ...
Sappho, fragments 73 & 74 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
They have been very generous with me, the violet-strewing Muses; thanks to their gifts I have become famous.
Sappho, fragment 3 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
Stars ringing the lovely moon pale to insignificance when she illuminates the earth with her magnificence.
Sappho, fragment 49 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
You have returned! You did well to not depart because I pined for you. Now you have re-lit the torch I bear for you in my heart, this flare of Love. I bless you and bless you and bless you because we're no longer apart.
Sappho, fragment 52 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
Yesterday, you came to my house to sing for me.
Today, I come to you to return the favor.
Talk to me. Do. Sweet talk, I love the flavor!
Please send away your maids and let us share a private heaven- haven.
Sappho, fragment19 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
There was no dance, no sacred dalliance, from which we were absent.
Sappho, fragment 20 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
... shot through with innumerable hues ...
Sappho, fragment 38 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
I flutter after you like a chick after its mother ...
Sappho, fragment 30 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
Stay! I will lay out a cushion for you with plushest pillows ...
Sappho, fragment 50 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
My body descends and my comfort depends on your welcoming cushions!
Sappho, fragment 133 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
Of all the stars the fairest, Hesperus, Lead the maiden straight to the bridegroom's bed, honoring Hera, the goddess of marriage.
Sappho, fragment 134 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
Selene came to Endymion in the cave, made love to him as he slept, then crept away before the sun could prove its light and warmth the more adept.
Sappho, fragment 4 loose translation by Michael R. Burch
"Honestly, I just want to die!" So she said, crying heartfelt tears, inconsolably sad to leave me.
And she said, "How deeply we have loved, we two, Sappho! Oh, I really don't want to go!"
I answered her thus: "Go, and be happy, remembering me, for you know how much I cared for you. And if you don't remember, please let me remind you of all the lovely emotions we felt as with many wreathes of violets, roses and crocuses you sat beside me adorning your delicate neck.
Once garlands had been fashioned of many woven flowers, with much expensive myrrh we anointed our bodies like royalty on soft couches, then your tender caresses fulfilled your desire ..." Sappho's Rose loose translation by Michael R. Burch
The rose is ... the ornament of the earth, the glory of nature, the archetype of the flowers, the blush of the meadows, a lightning flash of beauty.
Low-T Hell by Michael R. Burch
I’m living in low-T hell ... My get-up has gone: Farewell! I need to write checks if I want to have sex, and my love life depends on a gel!
I didn’t mean to love you,
but I did.
Best leave the rest unsaid,
hid-
den
and unbidden.
�"Michael R. Burch
You imagine life is good,
but have you actually understood?
�"Michael R. Burch
Living with a body ain’t much fun.
Harder, still, to live without one.
Whatever happened to our day in the sun?
�"Michael R. Burch
How little remains of our joys and our pains.
How little remains of our losses and gains.
How little remains of whatever remains.
�"Michael R. Burch
Sometimes I feel better, it’s true,
but mostly I’m still not over you.
�"Michael R. Burch
Don’t let the past defeat you.
Learn from it, but don’t dwell.
Have no regrets at “farewell.”
�"Michael R. Burch
Haughty moon,
when did I ever trouble you,
insomnia’s co-conspirator!
�"Michael R. Burch
Every day’s a new chance to lose weight,
but most likely,
I’ll
... procrastinate ...
�"Michael R. Burch
Big Ben Boner
by Michael R. Burch
Early to bed, hurriedly to rise
makes a man stealthy,
and that’s why he’s wealthy:
what the hell is he doing behind your closed eyes?
Friend, how you’ll squirm
when you belatedly learn
that you’re the worm!
Pecking Disorder
by Michael R. Burch
Love has a pecking order,
or maybe a dis-order,
a hell we recognize
if we merely open our eyes:
the attractive win at birth,
while those of ample girth
are deemed of little worth
from Nottingham to Perth.
Nottingham is said to have the most beautiful women in the world.
• Once fanaticism has gangrened brains the malady is usually incurable.―Voltaire, translation by Michael R. Burch
• We can't change the past, but we can learn from it.―Michael R. Burch
• When I was being bullied, I had to learn not to judge myself by the opinions of intolerant morons. Then I felt much better.―Michael R. Burch
• Intolerance is unsuccessful because one cannot argue successfully against success.―Michael R. Burch
• The most common cliché in contemporary poetry is: "Show, don't tell / no ideas but in things / fear abstractions." Unfortunately, someone forgot to inform Shakespeare and Milton.―Michael R. Burch
• The craziest fantasy of all is that human beings will ever act in their own and the planet's best interests.―Michael R. Burch
• Poetry is the art of finding the right word at the right time.―Michael R. Burch
• Love is exquisite torture.―Michael R. Burch (written after reading "It's Only My Heart" by Mirza Ghalib)
• Poetry moves the heart as well as the reason.―Michael R. Burch
• Poetry is the marriage of ideas and emotions, begetting music.―Michael R. Burch
• The best epigrams delight us into wisdom.―Michael R. Burch
• Consider a Golden Mean when the Golden Rule is employed. Some people are much
harder on themselves than on others. �" Michael R. Burch
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