From ‘The Ballad of the Grieving Queen’

by Jeffrey Burghauser (February 2026)

Balladeer:
I now shall tell a little tale
___That’s destitute of cheer.
A Castle occupied a Dale,
___Transcendently severe.
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Severe: the Dale & Castle, both;
___The Heavens, coldly bare,
A blade on which one swears an oath
___In absolute despair.
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Behind the Castle’s oaken door
___There lived a King & Queen.
The Monarch left one day for war
___Against the Tarentine.
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Although the Monarch bellowed forth
___His awful battle cry,
He knew (for blackbirds raked the north)
___That something was awry.
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The angels churned within his breast.
___Again, the Monarch roared.
As light declined into the west,
___His skull received the sword.
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His skull received the cleaving weight
___Of Sorrow, Satan’s lies,
And Hate which Fate must consecrate
___To one’s mundane demise.
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The Monarch’s ventricles adjourned
___When he received the heft
Of Persian steel. The angels churned
___Within his breast, and left.
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King’s Soul:
Although I died in heavy mud
___And sanguinary spray…
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Chorus:
Although he fell, a restive bud
___Of petalous decay…
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Balladeer:
Though Fate’s cappella seemed to drawl
___The death a Monarch died—
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Chorus:
A queer, atonal madrigal
___Performed at eventide,
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Balladeer:
Extending hands designed to touch,
___But not allowed to feel,
And lyrics meant to mean as much
___As lacerated steel;
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Without that soft, implied rapport
___Proceeding from a ME;
With neither tonic center nor
___Triadic harmony…
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His circumstance a grim caprice
___Of poorly-tended chords,—
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King’s Soul:
My soul was brought into the peace
___Which only Christ affords.
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Balladeer:
I now shall tell a little tale
___That’s destitute of cheer.
=
Chorus:
Did not the King transcend the vale
___To Christ’s consoling sphere?
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Balladeer:
Indeed, he did. The Camelot
___Of Heaven. Everything.
However, this recital’s not
___At all about the King.
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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.

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