I come from a musical place
Where they shoot me for my song
And my brother has been tortured
By my brother in my land.
I come from a beautiful place
Where they hate my shade of skin
They don't like the way I pray
And they ban free poetry.
......
And when, in the city in which I love you,
even my most excellent song goes unanswered,
andI mount the scabbed streets,
the long shouts of avenues,
and tunnel sunken night in search of you...
That I negotiate fog, bituminous
rain rining like teeth into the beggar's tin,
or two men jackaling a third in some alley
weirdly lit by a couch on fire, that I
......
The little toy dog is covered with dust,
But sturdy and stanch he stands;
And the little toy soldier is red with rust,
And his musket molds in his hands.
Time was when the little toy dog was new
And the soldier was passing fair,
And that was the time when our Little Boy Blue
Kissed them and put them there.
"Now, don't you go till I come," he said,
......
This salt
in the salt cellar
I once saw in the salt mines.
I know
you won't
believe me
but
it sings
salt sings, the skin
of the salt mines
......
The line-storm clouds fly tattered and swift,
The road is forlorn all day,
Where a myriad snowy quartz stones lift,
And the hoof-prints vanish away.
The roadside flowers, too wet for the bee,
Expend their bloom in vain.
Come over the hills and far with me,
And be my love in the rain.
The birds have less to say for themselves
......
It was explained to me
the other day, that music
holds every emotion a human
heart can feel.
It transcribes over used words
that have lost their depth.
I could tell you I am filled
with joy, but can you comprehend
the spilling out of my heart?
The excitement my body can
......
Fly-fly! O bird
Winter's gone, Spring's come
And wore a veil all who were tired,
Allover now feel at home.
You may call a day
Southern ocean- the best
Or, fly far and away
There to make a nest.
......
His puppy doll may lose way
O Sun, feed it with thy ray
All are back to home, this eve
Know, Shyam will never leave
Nor he'll talk nor stray awhile.
Listen, there's an honest man
None but he, my dearest son
Winking milk's dear to him
O no more tears, no stream
Hope I, he'll soon be still.
......
dance
and song
all day long
still for moments
then roaming blooms and fuchsia midnight rooms
restless rapt wind rousing all to tango
in orange mists
of dawn or
scarlet
dusk
......
These are poems of mine that are available as song lyrics. I have had 49 poems set to music by 30 composers, from swamp blues to opera.
***
We Come Together, Holding Hands (I)
by Michael R. Burch
We come together, holding hands,
the children of so many lands;
it’s what the day demands.
......