{"id":1067,"date":"2021-02-25T21:58:22","date_gmt":"2021-02-25T21:58:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hughesgallery.net\/barbarahelveyhughes\/?p=1067"},"modified":"2021-02-25T22:10:15","modified_gmt":"2021-02-25T22:10:15","slug":"the-keep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hughesgallery.net\/barbarahelveyhughes\/2021\/02\/25\/the-keep\/","title":{"rendered":"The Keep"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"751\" height=\"142\" src=\"https:\/\/hughesgallery.net\/barbarahelveyhughes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2-25-2021-The-Keep.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1068\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hughesgallery.net\/barbarahelveyhughes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2-25-2021-The-Keep.jpg 751w, https:\/\/hughesgallery.net\/barbarahelveyhughes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2-25-2021-The-Keep-300x57.jpg 300w, https:\/\/hughesgallery.net\/barbarahelveyhughes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2-25-2021-The-Keep-604x114.jpg 604w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 751px) 100vw, 751px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/hughesgallery.net\/barbarahelveyhughes\/audio\/The%20Keep%202-25-2021.m4a?_t=1614290683\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n<p class=\"fonts-plugin-block\" style=\"font-weight: normal;font-size: 15px;line-height: 1.3\"><strong><em>The Keep<\/em><\/strong><br>No, I don\u2019t need to see your face.<br>I sit alone in this cramped space<br>where dampened stars glaze darkest night<br>and wonder why on earth this place<br>won\u2019t ransom me from my sad plight.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<br>\u00a0<br>I glanced you in my hunter\u2019s sight.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<br>Through tear wrought nights, fair years rolled on\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<br>but, still, I dwelled in Limbo\u2019s keep:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<br>I wondered where I might have gone\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<br>had I not been so deep, asleep.<br>I chose to stay \u2018til night birthed dawn.<br>\u00a0<br>My waking up stalled much too long<br>and lingered well beyond its need<br>and though my heart yearned to be freed\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<br>and though my heart heard your faint voice<br>I had no choice and stayed my course:<br>some echo-pains do not recede.<br>\u00a0<br>I fear I never could endorse<br>\u2018the walking game\u2019 so many play:<br>I knew I would not walk away<br>so fragile was the carver\u2019s heart<br>with no way out, I had to stay.<br>Through restless storms I pitched and spun<br>and nearly could not launch my quest.<br>My lonely heartstrings stretched and frayed<br>dared not staunch life\u2019s flow ~ cruel unrest.<br>Delayed: my life\u2019s heart beat, undone.<br>\u00a0<br>I think I must have Loved you best.<br>But, bitter bite of winter\u2019s chill<br>froze Love\u2019s emotions long constrained.<br>I knew to move from <strong><u>that<\/u><\/strong> grave room<br>where little of my heart remained.<br>\u00a0<br>Through shivered fog would distant fields await?<br>How might I choose the one which suits my fate?<br>I made so many ill-turns on this chase.<br>How will I know which long road to embrace?<br>\u00a0<br>If you call out to me and I to you<br>and if our songs, alone, might see us through<br>I promise I will run along this trail.<br>The trail, which leads to you: I will not fail.<br>For you, alone, have won my trembling heart.<br>For you, alone, will match my stalwart heart.<br>I can\u2019t resist the Love within your heart.<br>And, so, I persist to you my Love.\u00a0 YOU.<br>\u00a0<br>For Peter McKinnon on Valentine\u2019s Day, 2021 by Barbara Helvey Hughes <br>\u00a0<br>\u00a0<br>\u00a0<br>\u00a0<br>\u00a0<br>\u00a0<br>\u00a0<br>\u00a0<br>\u00a0<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1069,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-love","category-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hughesgallery.net\/barbarahelveyhughes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hughesgallery.net\/barbarahelveyhughes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hughesgallery.net\/barbarahelveyhughes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hughesgallery.net\/barbarahelveyhughes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hughesgallery.net\/barbarahelveyhughes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1067"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/hughesgallery.net\/barbarahelveyhughes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1067\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1072,"href":"https:\/\/hughesgallery.net\/barbarahelveyhughes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1067\/revisions\/1072"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hughesgallery.net\/barbarahelveyhughes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hughesgallery.net\/barbarahelveyhughes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hughesgallery.net\/barbarahelveyhughes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hughesgallery.net\/barbarahelveyhughes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}