poems

These are poems I call my Fables...

Will There Be Starlight
by Michael R. Burch

for Beth

Will there be starlight
tonight
while she gathers
damask
and lilac
and sweet-scented heathers?

And will she find flowers,
or will she find thorns
guarding the petals
of roses unborn?

Will there be moonlight
tonight
while she gathers
seashells
and mussels
and albatross feathers?

ITALIAN POETRY TRANSLATIONS

These are my modern English translations of the Roman, Latin and Italian poets Anonymous, Marcus Aurelius, Catullus, Guido Cavalcanti, Cicero, Dante Alighieri, Veronica Franco, Guido Guinizelli, Hadrian, Primo Levi, Martial, Michelangelo, Seneca, Seneca the Younger and Leonardo da Vinci. I also have translations of Latin poems by the English poets Aldhelm, Thomas Campion and Saint Godric of Finchale.

what you fear is fear itself
what you fear is rain itself
what you fear is the rain of destruction
destruction rain down on destruction
fear rain down on fear
destiny come calling
destiny come calling on fear

destiny come calling on rain
fear come calling on fear
desire is worth a lion’s tail
desire is worth a lion’s fear
desire is worth a lion’s destiny
desire is worth a lion’s destruction
what you fear is a worth of fear

science zoom in on a disturbance
science zoom in on a lens of the universe
science disturb the lens of the universe
science create or disturb the lens of the universe
science create or zoom in on the lens of creativity
creativity zoom in on creativity
creativity is a lens of creativity

the universe create the lens of creativity
disturbance zoom in on disturbance
to zoom is to zoom in on creativity
a world create the lens of a world
a global world is a global lens
creation is a global world
a lens is a global lens

PABLO NERUDA TRANSLATIONS

You can crop all the flowers but you cannot detain spring.
―Pablo Neruda, loose translation 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

As if you were set on fire from within,
the moon whitens your skin.
—Pablo Neruda, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Bertolt Brecht Translations

These are my modern English translations of poems written in German by Bertolt Brecht. After the poems I have translations of epigrams and quotations by Bertolt Brecht.

The Burning of the Books
by Bertolt Brecht
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

When the Regime
commanded the unlawful books to be burned,
teams of dull oxen hauled huge cartloads to the bonfires.

Then a banished writer, one of the best,
scanning the list of excommunicated texts,
became enraged: he'd been excluded!

Erotic 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!

***

Less Heroic Couplets: Marketing 101
by Michael R. Burch

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

***

Negligibles
by Michael R. Burch

Show me your most intimate items of apparel;
begin with the hem of your quicksilver slip ...

***

speech of a term is speech of a speech
speech is speech of a speech
speech is speech of america
america is a figure of speech
speech is a term of speech
speech is a term of america
america is a term of america

america is a beauty of a beautiful speech
beauty is beauty of a magnificent speech
beauty is beauty of a magnificent term of speech
a beautiful america is the beauty of america
beauty is a beautiful america
beauty is a beautiful speech
magnificent is a figure of speech

my way or the highway
my way or the heartache
my way or minus the highway
my way or minus the heartache
minus the heartache,minus the highway
minus the soul,minus the heartache
minus the soul,plus the soul

minus the soul,plus the heartache
the mind,body is a plus of the soul
minus the soul,minus the body,plus the mind
plus the mind,plus the body,minus the soul
minus the soul is plus the body
the soul is at peace with the mind
the soul is at peace with the body

mankind is a old tale
mankind is a old tale of respect
mankind is a wise old tale
mankind is a wise old respect
respect is a wise old respect
respect is a wise old tale of respect
honor of mankind is kindness of mankind

respect is a kindness respect
respect is a kindness old tale of respect
in honor of respect is in honor of mankind
a old tale is a wise old tale
a old tale is a wise old tale of respect
kindness is mankind kindness
kindness is mankind wise old tale