Long Moor Poems

It's Halloween!
Michael R. Burch

If evening falls
on graveyard walls
far softer than a sigh;

if shadows fly
moon-sickled skies,
while children toss their heads

uneasy in their beds,
beware the witch's eye!

If goblins loom
within the gloom
till playful pups grow terse;

if birds give...

Read More

It's Halloween!
Michael R. Burch

If evening falls
on graveyard walls
far softer than a sigh;

if shadows fly
moon-sickled skies,
while children toss their heads

uneasy in their beds,
beware the witch's eye!

If goblins loom
within the gloom
till playful pups grow terse;

if birds give...

Read More

At Tintagel
by Michael R. Burch

That night, 
at Tintagel, 
there was darkness such as man had never seen...
darkness and treachery, 
and the unholy thundering of the sea...

In his arms, 
who is to say how much she...

Read More

Premise
The great poem by the italian poet Dante is the DIVINA COMMEDIA
I have tried to translate in english verses of INFERNO (HELL).
It was a very difficult task. 
I expect criticism.

When just the midway of my...

Read More

The Pictish Faeries
by Michael R. Burch

Smaller and darker
than their closest kin,
the faeries learned only too well
never to dwell
close to the villages of larger men. 

Only to dance in the starlight
when the moon was full
and men...

Read More

A Bagpipe am I,
My drones point to the sky!
I am magic they say, since the wizard ‘spelled’ on me that day.

He gave me the gift of immortal time,
I could travel through centuries,
T’was a gift.
It was...

Read More

For a few coins Melord, I'll tell a story of two that met in this place, 
and here you can take your rest, and leave sumpter to graze in the tall grass.

I payed the old...

Read More

The Spirits of Culloden. 
This is like a pilgrimage, a try tae come every year,
Gather at the cairn, meet old friends, wipe away a tear.
Standin on that moor, that once with blood was sodden,
Paying respects...

Read More

Inspired by the painting "Highland Lassie" (1871) by Thomas Faed.

(Verse One; In introduction to Cailin)
Walkin' on the highways, searchin' down the byways,
Tromps a lonely figure on the Highland roads;
Peerin' from the Highdown, breezin' through the...

Read More

Matsuo Basho New Haiku Translations

Air ballet:
twin butterflies, twice white,
meet, match & mate
—Matsuo Basho, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch 

Denied transformation
into a butterfly,
autumn worsens for the worm
—Matsuo Basho, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch 

Dusk-gliding...

Read More

I.
You can always tell by the eyes
When they’re starting to go
You’ll fall for a few of their lies
Before you begin to know
And you will just defy it
(But they know you will never go)

They’ll glide through...

Read More

1	A plume of dirt and grime envelops sky;
		The hellish slug of gas does creep along.
		It casts an orb three hundred stories high
		Over the Sun and ends his morning song.
		The birds and trees now stand a...

Read More

Our lives and our time
Fired useless
Into the air
Toy cap gun shots
Those winter palaces unstormed
No tax offices ransacked
Where is utopia I asked
And no-one knew
They looked at me with pity
As if I still talked
To an imaginary friend
At...

Read More

The difficult translation of first Canto of Divina Commedia is here completed
In the part published before, Dante imagined to find himself in a dark forest where he met three beasts. 
Now he is going to...

Read More

Written: March 4th 2024
                 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Whilst waiting patience is a probity,
swifter straddling startled savvy scare
strong for people enduring anguish
trope for enthusiastic...

Read More

In a foreign lush green sprawling land
A patchwork carpet stitched together
In shades of tawny browns yellows and green
Rugged rock forest and wind-swept moor
Is a awe-inspiring spectacle to be seen

In summer's adorned frock adorned bushes and...

Read More

There are three little words on tiny stones strewn along the floor
of a never-ending stream which runs through a misty moor.
A marvelous moor of uncertainty where mysteriously all are led
to cross a flowing water all...

Read More

(The memories are simple, living the feeling significant)

After conquering Beamsley Beacon due Southwest,
Rombald’s moor stood, while for centuries
within the valley the minute dwellings
of grey stone, brick and muck.
Main waterway, depending on era
town or sailor beck,...

Read More

  In the meta-versed binaural wish song beats, 
skid row streets of the bottomless pits of Metropolis/ Thebes, 
you are quardoned off and printed in a likeness 
wronged-vaped, winged
to the wilderness by their covens,...

Read More

On one dark and stormy night… on a local, lonely, wind swept moor,
A very young and slightly mad scientist did some craziness, for sure.
Now mind you, he was only 3 years young, but, yet, still...

Read More

When all the stars from Heaven fell to Earth,
a light was quelled beneath the mantled dawn.
The aftermath lent anger in rebirth
when apathy was scorched by Nippon brawn.
A swift emergence reckoned in retort
by orchestrating strength to...

Read More

With jewels dangling from his lobes 

and a gnarled finger entangled in dreadlocks, 

“Arrrg, we must find the cove, 

where the butterflies grow!” 

exclaims Captain Metamorphosis with a grin. 

For they behold the secrets of...

Read More

Under the firmament 
Vying  to escape the dome  of purgatory 
A trap which seems permanent 
Filled with negative energy and pain
Stuck on a plain 
That plays tricks on the brain 
Driving souls insane 
Desensitized to...

Read More

I know of a river of more than average 
Sorts...
Meandering, when not dallying to maunder,
Between many differing contours 
And unruly contorts;
Where a privileged youth once
Happily sought -
Pursuing about his passions
In the traditional methods 
By which...

Read More

These are modern English translations of ancient Middle English poems. 


The Maiden Lay in the Wilds
circa the 14th century
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

The maiden in the moor lay,
in the moor lay;
seven nights full,
seven nights...

Read More