By Michael Burch
THE SANDMAN’S SONG
I sing white water,
birds on the bough,
bunnies and redwoods
to sleep ... to sleep ...
I sing, “Wild forests,
green meadows, blue seas,
drink deep ...
drink deep ... drink deep ...”
I whisper, “Bright robins,
please, be wise,
and wily weasels, close your eyes ...
fierce eyes ...”
I bid all the rivers, “Come, seek your beds!”
I bid all the children, “Off, sleepyheads!”
then softly shutter their eyes ...
eyes ... eyes.
I lullaby, lullaby down the plains,
echo through mountains
and moonlit hills ...
hills ... hills ...
I murmur, “Oh, mothers,
please don’t rise;
shadows and stars,
be still ... be still ... be still.”
And the world sleeps.
HEY PETE!
(for Pete Rose)
hey pete,
it's baseball season
and the sun ascends the sky,
encouraging a schoolboy’s dreams
of winter whizzing by;
go out, go out and catch it,
put it in a jar,
set it on a shelf
and then
you'll be a Superstar.
Michael R. Burch’s poems have been published by hundreds of literary journals, taught in high schools and colleges, translated into fourteen languages, incorporated into three plays and two operas, and set to music by seventeen composers.
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