The Poor Sensualist Sings to The Rich Puritan

by Jeffrey Burghauser (April 2023)

Young Couple from Rusadla, Alphonse Mucha, 1920

The Poor Sensualist Sings to The Rich Puritan

Without the attention of solemnly young,
Near-virginal lovers whose loving is old
(A ladder to Grace only lacking a rung),
What value abides in barbarian gold?

Without the cerulean-cameo-cool
Caress of a nymph in whose silence is scrolled
The edicts that Daylight & Death overrule,
What value abides in barbarian gold?

Without the unfailing ability to
Approach with a finger the things you behold
In sunset savannas advancing to you,
What value abides in barbarian gold?

Love Poem

For reasons
Beyond my power, and
Beyond your
Responsibility,

It’s you who
Must bear the burden of
My regard.
But please don’t think that my

Regard costs
Me nothing. Were I a
Capable
Navigator of such

Dilemmas,
I wouldn’t be in one.
Was it this
That Petrarch wrote about?

Table of Contents

Jeffrey Burghauser is a teacher in Columbus, OH. He was educated at SUNY-Buffalo and the University of Leeds. He currently studies the five-string banjo with a focus on pre-WWII picking styles. A former artist-in-residence at the Arad Arts Project (Israel), his poems have appeared (or are forthcoming) in Appalachian Journal, Fearsome Critters, Iceview, Lehrhaus, and New English Review. Jeffrey’s book-length collections are available on Amazon, and his website is www.jeffreyburghauser.com.

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