These epigrams include my modern English translations of Galileo, Confucius, Gandhi, Socrates, Marcus Aurelius, Rene Descartes, Jorge Luis Borges and Euripides.
Where our senses fail,
reason must prevail.
—Galileo Galilei, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
To know what we do know, and to know what we don't, is true knowledge.—Confucius, sometimes incorrectly attributed to Nicolaus Copernicus, loose translation by Michael R. Burch
A man may attempt to burnish pure gold, but who can think to improve on his mother? —Mahatma Gandhi, 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
To live without philosophizing is to close one's eyes and never attempt to open them.—Rene Descartes, loose translation by Michael R. Burch
Improve yourself by others' writings, attaining freely what they purchased at great expense.—Socrates, translation by Michael R. Burch
Experience is the best teacher but a hard taskmaster.—Michael R. Burch
Heaven and hell seem unreasonable to me: the actions of men do not deserve such extremes.
—Jorge Luis Borges, translation by Michael R. Burch
Reality is neither probable nor likely.
—Jorge Luis Borges, translation by Michael R. Burch
Love distills the eyes’ desires, love bewitches the heart with its grace.—Euripides, translation 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
Euripides was pretty good, wasn't he? I try to translate him in as few words as possible, hoping to stay out of his way.—Michael R. Burch
Joe Montana was Joe Cool, but he was also Joe Clutch. — Michael R. Burch
***
Less Heroic Couplets: Mini-Ode to Stamina
by Michael R. Burch
When you’ve given so much
that I can’t bear your touch,
then from a safe distance
let me admire your persistence.
Published by Asses of Parnassus
***
The Red State Reaction
by Michael R. Burch
Where the hell are they hidin’
Sleepy Joe Biden?
And how the hell can the bleep
Do so much, in his sleep?
***
Red State Reject
by Michael R. Burch
I once was a pessimist
but now I’m more optimistic
ever since I discovered my fears
were unsupported by any statistic.
***
Arse Brevis, Emendacio Longa
by Michael R. Burch
The Donald may tweet from sun to sun,
but his spellchecker’s work is never done.
***
Donald Disgustus
by Michael R. Burch
It’ll be a cold day in hell
when I wish The Donald well:
was there ever a bigger liar
than President Pants-on-Fire?
***
Poets must sometimes re-butt asses like Trump.—Michael R. Burch
***
Farewell to Faith I
by Michael R. Burch
What we want is relief
from life’s grief and despair:
what we want’s not “belief”
but just not to be there.
***
Farewell to Faith II
by Michael R. Burch
Confronted by the awesome thought of death,
to never suffer, and be free of grief,
we wonder: What’s the use of drawing breath?
Why seek relief
from the bible’s Thief,
who ripped off Eve then offered her a leaf?
***
A Passing Observation about Thinking Outside the Box
by Michael R. Burch
William Blake had no public, and yet he’s still read.
His critics are dead.
***
Me?
Whee!
(I stole this poem
From Muhammad Ali.)
—Michael R. Burch
This poem was written in response to the Quora question: “Can you write a poem titled “Me”?
***
Confetti for Ferlinghetti
by Michael R. Burch
Lawrence Ferlinghetti
is the only poet whose name rhymes with “spaghetti”
and, while not being quite as rich as J. Paul Getty,
he still deserves some confetti
for selling a million books while being a modern Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
Like Dante Gabriel Rossetti, his rhyming namesake Lawrence Ferlinghetti was a poet and a painter. Ferlinghetti also wore other hats: playwright, novelist, publisher, bookstore owner and activist. In 1953, he founded City Lights, the first all-paperback bookshop in the United States, which quickly became a Mecca for the Beats and other progressive literary types. In 1956, he published Howl, then defeated the censors in a landmark court case. That landmark victory paved the way for previously banned books, such as Lady Chatterley’s Lover and Tropic of Cancer, to be sold legally. Ferlinghetti’s most famous poetry collection, A Coney Island of the Mind (1958), has sold over one million copies at home and abroad.
***
a peom in supsport of a dsylexci peot
by michael r. burch, allso a peot
(supsport = to be red at tea time whilts wathcing a ball gaem)
for ken d williams
pay no hede to the saynayers,
the asburd wordslayers,
the splayers and sprayers,
the heartless diecriers,
the liers!
what the hell due ur criticks no?
let them bellow below!
ur every peom has a good haert
and culd allso seerv as an ichart!
There are a number of puns, including ur (my term for original/ancient/first), no/know, pay/due, the critic as both absurd and an as(s)-burd who is he(artless), and the poet as the (seer)v of an (i)-chart for all. Here is an encoded version:
(pay) k(no)w hede to the say(nay)ers,
the as(s)bird word(s*)layers,
the s*(players) and s*(prayers),
the he(artless) (die)(cry)ers,
the (lie)rs!
what the hell (due) ur (cry)(ticks) k(no)w?
let them (be)l(low) below!
(ur) every peom has a good haert
and culd (all)so (seer)ve as an (i)chart!
***
Rejection Slip
by Michael R. Burch
pour Melissa Balmain
Whenever my writing gets rejected
I always wonder how the rejecter got elected.
Are we exchanging at the same Bourse?
(Excepting present company, of course!)
***
The Unspectacular Bachelor
The bachelor is back, he’s black,
and some fair-skinned gals want him in the sack!
And, yes, he’s a whole lot smarter
than the previous knights of that peculiar garter.
We can hear the white supremacists stewing:
What the hell are the screen writers doing?
They know love requires a nice white spark,
and this apprentice is far too dark!
***
Cunt, while you weep and seep neediness all night,
ass has claimed what would bring you delight.
—Musa Lapidaria, #100A, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
***
Trump’s real goals are obvious
and yet millions of Americans remain oblivious.
—Michael R. Burch
***
Paradoxical Ode to Antinatalism
by Michael R. Burch
A stay on love
would end death’s hateful sway,
someday.
A stay on love
would thus be love,
I say.
Be true to love
and thus end death’s
fell sway!
***
Justice may be blind, but does she have to be deaf too?—Michael R. Burch
There is nothing at all supreme, nor anything remotely just, about Clarence Thomas.—Michael R. Burch
I will never grok picking a picky rule over a Poem! – Michael R. Burch
***
veni, vidi, etc.
by michael r. burch
the last will and testament of a preemie
i came, i saw, i figured
it was better to be transfigured,
so rather than cross my Rubicon
i fled to the Great Beyond.
i bequeath my remains, so small,
to Brutus, et al.
***
Christ!
If I knew men could be so dumb,
I would never have come!
Now you lie, cheat and steal in my name
and make it a thing of shame.
Did I heal the huge holes in your heart, in your head?
Isn’t it obvious: I’m dead!
***
Less Heroic Couplets: Gilded Silence
by Michael R. Burch
Golden silence reigned supreme
in my nightmare and her dream.
***
Abu al-Ala Al-Ma'arri (973-1057), antinatalist Shyari
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Lighten your tread:
The ground beneath your feet is composed of the dead.
Walk slowly here and always take great pains
Not to trample some departed saint's remains.
And happiest here is the hermit with no hand
In making sons, who dies a childless man.
***
Bittersight
by Michael R. Burch
for Abu al-Ala Al-Ma'arri
To be plagued with sight
in the Land of the Blind,
—to know birth is death
and that Death is kind—
is to be flogged like Eve
(stripped, sentenced and fined)
because evil is “good”
as some “god” has defined.
Bookmarks/Tags: epigram, epigrams, translation, translations, Galileo, Confucius, Gandhi, Socrates, Marcus Aurelius, Rene Descartes, Jorge Luis Borges, Euripides
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