This will be hard to explain, so please lie
\nStill and I’ll try to make it clear to you.
\nIt may have been a normal day; perhaps
\nYou were optimistic, out for a hunt.
\nSomething happened, though–a fall from the saddle?
\nBoils, putrid breath, and fever? An axe?
\nWhatever it was, you were dead by day’s end.
\n(Every death comes before a day has ended.)
\nAt least a few people were sorry enough
\nThey had a huge monument made of you:
\nSword in your hand, Pepe curled at your feet,
\nAll in gilt and expensive blue tempera.
\nCome to think of it, they messed up the garments
\nA bit. Parts hang down as if you were standing;
\nOther parts lie flat as if you were prone.
\nNever mind; in all, it was resplendent.<\/p>\n
Some of the rest is easy to relate. Honestly, just one in ten look down, for This will be hard to explain, so please lie Still and I’ll try to make it clear to you. It may have been a normal day; perhaps You were optimistic, out for a hunt. Something happened, though–a fall from the saddle? Boils, putrid breath, and fever? An axe? Whatever it was, you were dead by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,1,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spain","category-uncategorized","category-verse-and-worse"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16167"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16167\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16192,"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16167\/revisions\/16192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nWoodworms are responsible for all those holes.
\nThere was a fire once. You would recognize
\nLa Guerra Civil<\/em> as a peasant revolt
\nWith more than the typical body count.
\nNapoleon–he was sort of a Lombard
\nWho got himself crowned Emperor in Rome
\nAnd sent a Frankish army to sack Spain.
\nColumbus–well, let’s just say there’s another
\nLarge country out west across the sea, yes,
\nWay<\/em> west of Galicia, and a part
\nOf that is settled now by a kind of
\nHeretical Anglian peasant mob
\nWho like things like your monument. They bought it
\nCheap, carted it over, and laid you out
\nTo be labeled, walked around, and looked at.<\/p>\n
\nThe pictures all around you are more vibrant
\nAnd hang conveniently at eye level.
\nStill, now and then a whole regiment
\nWill gather round, women in their midst, and point.
\nThey know more of your time, Hidalgo, than
\nYou did. They know the before and after
\nAnd the why of everything. You just inhaled
\nThe loamy air, tasted salt from your lip,
\nFelt horsehair, and heard the crack of the whip.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"