Richard Burke Poems

Its keel was laid in twenty-five,
It launched in twenty-eight;
Among those christening its bow,
Who could have guessed its fate,
...

Pray listen while I share with you,
A case that once betide a Jew,
And teaches all to wary be,
Of answering too hastily,
...

DAY ONE
I'm almost a whole day old now,
I arrived just yesterday,
If there were any 'days before, '
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'My life is miserable, '
Sighed a daughter to her dad;
'Each problem that gets solved,
Brings another just as bad! '
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I started with one sister,
Marriages brought two more;
Each one a pure delight,
Both easy to adore.
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Knees

I think that I shall never see
A joint more complicated than a knee;
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Taws a week before Christmas,
When in front of our house,
There appeared a flat box,
Sent to me and my spouse.
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It was in Myra, Asia Minor,
That St. Nicolas made his home;
He was the Bishop there,
A thousand miles from Rome.
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It was Christmas twenty-fifty and Santa sighed in deep dismay,
The climate had changed twice since his first Noel Day.
He'd survived rising temperatures throughout 'Medieval Times, '
And the cold of the 'Little Ice Age' of 18th Century climes.
...

Each culture has a tale to tell,
Of how all came to be;
Of who created Earth and sky,
And air and land and sea;
...