America Did Not Die

For crying out loud
Due to the outcome
I was not particularly proud
For more than two centuries, election days go and come
At a similar season, every four years
This time, there were plenty of wows and tears
Of disappointment, heartbreak, anger, anxiety and sadness
And the other half was full of glee or happiness
Such is life. Politics is a dirty and unpredictable animal
No, America did not die. Things are normal
We’re still talking about immigration, liberty

Why I "Left" the Religious Right

These heretical poems on the subjects of God, religion and Christianity explain why I “left” the Religious Right.

If one screams below,
what the hell is "Above"?
—Michael R. Burch

Religion is regarded by fools as true, by the wise as false, and by rulers as useful. — Seneca, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Bible Libel
by Michael R. Burch

If God
is good,
half the Bible
is libel.

Prayer Poems by Michael R. Burch

These are prayer poems by Michael R. Burch, along with a few hymns and hymn-like prayer poems. There are also poems on the subject of God and religion—the Christian religion in particular. In my youth I wrote some devotional poems but my later poems tend to be heretical, after in-depth study of the Bible revealed things unworthy of decent human beings, much less a perfect deity. 

I Pray Tonight
by Michael R. Burch

I pray tonight
the starry light
might
surround you.

I pray
each day
that, come what may,
no dark thing confound you.

Pushkin Translations

These are my modern English translations of poems by the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin.

I Loved You
by Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

I loved you ... perhaps I love you still ...
perhaps for a while such emotions may remain.
But please don’t let my feelings trouble you;
I do not wish to cause you further pain.

"I didn't know"

God, I am thankful for Jesus Christ,
and I am now reborn by his light!
But I didn’t know my spirit laid perishing in the night.

I am thankful you provide me with physical food,
but I didn’t know my spirit starved for spiritual food.

I am thankful for eyes which see your glorious creations,
but I didn’t know my soul was attacked by unseen situations.

I am thankful you gave me a brain to think,
but I didn’t know my soul was ill with ignorance.

With Such Alacrity

by

With such alacrity
Eager to get the job done
Willing and able to learn
Always on the run
Forging ahead in the distance
Taking things one day at a time
Managing the time wisely
In order to keep things in line

beautiful day

Beautiful day,
hold me tight.
Show me birds
in high blue flight.
Show me bare branches
once clothed in green.
Show me fields of
waves serene.
Help me look beyond
things i can touch.
To see God's eyes,
I love so much.

Rick

Translation of Petrarch's Rima, Sonnet 134

I FIND no peace, and all my war is done;
I fear and hope; I burn and freeze like ice;
I fly above the wind, yet can I not arise;
And nought I have, and all the world I seize on;
That looseth nor locketh holdeth me in prison
And holdeth me not, yet can I 'scape nowise;
Nor letteth me live nor die at my device, [by my own choice]
And yet of death it giveth none occasion.
Withouten eyen, I see; and without tongue I plain; [lament]
I desire to perish, and yet I ask health;


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