earth

“Jessamyn’s Song” is an early poem of mine that I started around age 14 and was substantially complete by age 16. 

Jessamyn's Song (circa age 14-16)
by Michael R. Burch

16

There are meadows heathered with thoughts of you,
where the honeysuckle winds
in fragrant, tangled vines
down to the water's edge.

Through the wind-bent grass
               I watch time pass
slow with the dying day
on its lolling, rolling way ...
And I know you’ll soon be mine.

17

I take a deep breath,

Smoke fills my lungs and I choke

In the Amazon.

“Milestones Toward Oblivion” and the other poems here are poems about the Apocalypse, also known as Armageddon, the End Times, the Last Days, the Day of Judgement, the Final Countdown, the Final Battle, the Final Battleground, the Cataclysm, the Catastrophe, Nuclear Holocaust, Nuclear Winter, MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction), etc.

Milestones Toward Oblivion
by Michael R. Burch

“A nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.”
—Ronald Reagan

Your hand is cold
You lead me to the chamber
Blue light fills the air
Reflecting off your lily dress
 
We walk wordless, deeper
Into the dark, shrinking
Smaller and smaller, until
We disappear in the blue abyss
 
          ~
 
The strands of your hair
Lay haphazardly along your shoulder
 
Black silky strands contrast
The white of your lily dress
 
In the distance I hear
The faint sound of morning cars
 
          ~
 
We follow the frozen stream