SMILINDA and CARDELIA.CARDELIA.
THE bassette-table spread, the tallier come,
Why stays SMILINDA in the dressing-room ?
Rise, pensive nymph ! the tallier stays for you.
SMILINDA.
Ah ! Madam, since my SHARPER is untrue,
I joyless make my once ador'd alpieu.
I saw him stand behind OMBRELIA's Chair,
And whisper with that soft deluding air,
......
Rude is this Edifice, and Thou hast seen
Buildings, albeit rude, that have maintained
Proportions more harmonious, and approached
To closer fellowship with ideal grace.
But take it in good part:--alas! the poor
Vitruvius of our village had no help
From the great City; never, upon leaves
Of red Morocco folio, saw displayed,
In long succession, pre-existing ghosts
Of Beauties yet unborn--the rustic Lodge
......
It was pleasant up the country, City Bushman, where you went,
For you sought the greener patches and you travelled like a gent;
And you curse the trams and buses and the turmoil and the push,
Though you know the squalid city needn't keep you from the bush;
But we lately heard you singing of the 'plains where shade is not',
And you mentioned it was dusty -- 'all was dry and all was hot'.
True, the bush 'hath moods and changes' -- and the bushman hath 'em, too,
For he's not a poet's dummy -- he's a man, the same as you;
But his back is growing rounder -- slaving for the absentee --
......
Tucked away in the corner,
in the slowed-down dead of night,
the lovers cuddle closer
away from any light
His arms wrapped round her waist
so steady and so slow
The embrace is filled with so much love
Love that only these two know
......
The Best Sonnets by Michael R. Burch
Auschwitz Rose
by Michael R. Burch
There is a Rose at Auschwitz, in the briar,
a rose like Sharon's, lovely as her name.
The world forgot her, and is not the same.
I still love her and enlist this sacred fire
......
Mere saath zindagi jiyogi toh batao,
Mujhe yaad karke sharmaogi toh batao,
Mere saath chai piyogi toh batao,
Mere zakhmon pe marham lagogi toh batao,
mere naam ki mehendi rachaogi toh batao,
mere naam ka sindoor sajogi toh batao,
Mere saath jeene marne ki kashmein khaogi toh btao ,
Har mod pe saath nibhaogi toh btao?
Main sochta hoon baar-baar,
Kya tum mera haath thaamogi har baar?
......
No foreign star, no northern cloud,
Could shadow the threads we have independently weaved.
Time clenches today, weaving a mosaic of untold glories,
Forever to reminisce when it fades into yesterday.*
We billowed as kindred spirits,
Minds alike, gaze locked,
Counting grains in time's shifting hourglass.
Our vision darts to words spilling from our lips—
......
In harbor's glow,she stands so tall,
a beacon of hope,welcoming all
With torch held high and crown of stars,
she whispers dreams from near and far.
Through storms and trails,steadfast and free,
a symbol of strength and liberty
In her shadow,new lives begin,
a promise of hope for all within.
"Safe Harbor" is a poem I wrote for my friend and fellow poet Kevin Roberts, who was the founder and first editor of the literary journal Romantics Quarterly.
Safe Harbor
by Michael R. Burch
for Kevin N. Roberts
The sea at night seems
......
Whole atmosphere is
Magnetic
Environment is
Full of magic
I am overwhelmed by yellowish
In yellow
The whole creation is
Watching your feat
......