{"id":1182,"date":"2018-05-21T17:00:12","date_gmt":"2018-05-21T17:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jonathanharker.co.uk\/theghostlyworld\/?p=1182"},"modified":"2024-03-03T10:21:37","modified_gmt":"2024-03-03T10:21:37","slug":"the-ballad-of-a-last-goodbye","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jonathanharker.co.uk\/theghostlyworld\/the-ballad-of-a-last-goodbye\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ballad of a Last Goodbye"},"content":{"rendered":"

by John Riley<\/span><\/p>\n

Arising from the fall, I stand and watch those gathering in burnished rays of setting winter’s sun while I see a tense young man break free at a headlong fast pace, bloodied hands stuffed down in pockets.<\/span><\/p>\n

Beyond that fatal slaying, I pass a life, halfway by reckoning, and reaching out for the stars is this old choirboy singing his lot beneath rasping breath.<\/span><\/p>\n

It’s time. I must depart and call upon old haunts a final time.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a simple furnished room, authorities break the news. My young widow holds her face in the palms of her hands.<\/span><\/p>\n

Upon your pillow, let me place that pressed flower you picked for me in the spring when we were betrothed and kept close to my heart.<\/span><\/p>\n

It’s time now; I must go and leave you to discover that pressed gift beyond the veil, for death does us finally part.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

-end-<\/span><\/p>\n

back to previous episode<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/a>forward to season end<\/a><\/p>\n

back to list of stories<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by John Riley Arising from the fall, I stand and watch those gathering in burnished rays of setting winter’s sun while I see a tense young man break free at a headlong fast pace, bloodied hands stuffed down in pockets. Beyond that fatal slaying, I pass a life, halfway by reckoning, and reaching out for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[114],"tags":[3,149],"class_list":["post-1182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-john-riley","tag-john-riley","tag-the-ballad-of-a-last-goodbye"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonathanharker.co.uk\/theghostlyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonathanharker.co.uk\/theghostlyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonathanharker.co.uk\/theghostlyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonathanharker.co.uk\/theghostlyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonathanharker.co.uk\/theghostlyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1182"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/jonathanharker.co.uk\/theghostlyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1182\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3175,"href":"https:\/\/jonathanharker.co.uk\/theghostlyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1182\/revisions\/3175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonathanharker.co.uk\/theghostlyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonathanharker.co.uk\/theghostlyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonathanharker.co.uk\/theghostlyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}