{"id":83610,"date":"2016-11-28T12:00:32","date_gmt":"2016-11-28T12:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=83610"},"modified":"2016-11-27T16:15:16","modified_gmt":"2016-11-27T16:15:16","slug":"gifts-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2016\/11\/gifts-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Gifts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Beggars we were by the looks of it,
\nOur hosts were gracious making way,
\nWe might have been gods or sly kings
\nBy their offerings, their finest food,
\nWine elegantly poured and, best,
\nTheir bristling silence
\nOnce our feet were washed,
\nOnce we had donned their cloaks
\nAnd in the centre of the smooth stone floor,
\nBegan our tales<\/p>\n

I was as expectant as the crowd
\nTo hear your poetry, see you smooth
\nYour hair and conjure exploits
\nOf our days apart \u2013
\nWere you another’s sentinel,
\nAnother’s song
\nAmong the deep-rooted trees,
\nThe high plains,
\nWere you a beacon in the snow?<\/p>\n

I listened as you raised your lyre,
\nThe landscape of our travels grew again \u2013
\nHow the winds cursed, muffled our resolve,
\nCarried our plaints, our scents,
\nAnd how the canopy flickered
\nOverhead, no matter what,
\nStars crowded or dispersed
\nTo guide, to shed a ghostly
\nOr a splendid light
\nUpon the scattered paths<\/p>\n

I nodded as you took your seat,
\nYou wouldn’t know about the islands,
\nStorms, the refuges I found,
\nPerhaps I should have stayed,
\nI did my best to tell of the heaving seas
\nAnd our reconnaissance,
\nThe audience sat, mesmerised<\/p>\n

I relished your new strangeness \u2013
\nHow you ranged and tempted \u2013
\nWatched you step once more
\nInto their midst and dare me
\nWith your eyes to join,
\nTo lead them, us into another dream<\/p>\n

That night you breathed more fearlessly
\nIn our makeshift bed,
\nAnd I, I think that I
\nWas just as brave<\/p>\n

As the horizon glowed
\nThe chants began,
\nSoftly at first, gently rising
\nAs we stole away:
\nThey knew how to confer
\nOn wanderers
\nThe greatest gift
\n_________________________________________<\/p>\n

\"emanuel-garcia\"<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Emanuel E. Garcia is an American-born poet, novelist and physician who resides in New Zealand.\u00a0 He may be contacted at emanuelegarcia@gmail.com<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Beggars we were by the looks of it,
\nOur hosts were gracious making way,
\nWe might have been gods or sly kings<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[182],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry-format"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83610"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83610\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}