They Labor in Vain

by Jeffrey Burghauser (May 2024)

Cain and Abel —Titian, 1543-45

 

Except the Lord build the house,
they labor in vain that build it. —Psalm 127:1

 

Whoever endeavors to build his domain,
___His sanctified hearth, but to build it without
The backing of Heaven endeavors in vain.
___
Suburban consumers, so crazily sane,
___Are doubtful that anything hovers about
Whoever endeavors to build his domain.
___
Those eyeless in Gaza, bereft in Ukraine,
___And slashed in Sonora despairingly shout
That even the heavens endeavor in vain—
___
That even the power that disciplined Cain
___Let Abel be slain. That benignly devout
Endeavorer bidding to build his domain
–
Of nothing but Ardor (the echo of Pain,
___The bulwark against the disaster of Doubt)
Discovered that heaven endeavors in vain.
___
Destroy me, if only to prove that Your reign,
___Like any Real Thing, is what no one can flout;
Whoever endeavors to build his domain
Sans Heaven’s assistance endeavors in vain.

 

Table of Contents

 

Jeffrey Burghauser is a teacher in Columbus, Ohio. 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.

Follow NER on Twitter @NERIconoclast