{"id":108166,"date":"2022-06-25T09:30:33","date_gmt":"2022-06-25T13:30:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/?p=108166"},"modified":"2022-06-27T10:08:45","modified_gmt":"2022-06-27T14:08:45","slug":"hour-2-promises-to-keep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/2022\/06\/hour-2-promises-to-keep\/","title":{"rendered":"Hour 2: \u201cPromises to Keep\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u201cSupreme Court Invalidates Key Part of Voting Rights Act\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

My peers, savoring fresh air, are buying campers<\/p>\n

And basking in wonders of waterfalls<\/p>\n

And sunsets and snowy woods and meandering<\/p>\n

Rivers and breathless vistas atop<\/p>\n

breezy mountains aiming for paradise<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

My retired friends vacation in Hawaii<\/p>\n

Tour Europe and cruise the Mediterranean —<\/p>\n

where the seas are smooth and calm —<\/p>\n

They relish Alaska\u2019s northern shore \u2013<\/p>\n

where they watch dawn\u2019s borealis shimmer like a dream<\/p>\n

of angel\u2019s wings, brushing the sky in rainbows<\/p>\n

without the inconvenience of rain<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cBut I have promises to keep\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Promises made to the ancestors<\/p>\n

Who brought me through<\/p>\n

And made this way<\/p>\n

out for me<\/p>\n

when there was no way<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I have honor to keep<\/p>\n

To carry the dream for<\/p>\n

Progeny because<\/p>\n

The battle was won for me, for them<\/p>\n

Yet the war rages on<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I have war songs to sing<\/p>\n

Set to the cadence of higher ground,<\/p>\n

Marching to Sweet Honey\u2019s pure sound<\/p>\n

And Ella\u2019s prophetic voice:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe who believe in freedom cannot rest\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Slipping up mountains coated with life\u2019s blood<\/p>\n

Carrying the burdens of this history<\/p>\n

“Lifting as we climb”<\/p>\n

Letting the future know<\/p>\n

They won\u2019t be able to retire<\/p>\n

from this battlefield<\/p>\n

For we have \u201cmiles to go\u201d<\/p>\n

And \u201cpromises to keep\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u201cSupreme Court Invalidates Key Part of Voting Rights Act\u201d   My peers, savoring fresh air, are buying campers And basking in wonders of waterfalls And sunsets and snowy woods and meandering Rivers and breathless vistas atop breezy mountains aiming for paradise   My retired friends…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":853,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[4923],"class_list":["post-108166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marathon-poem","tag-2022marathon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/853"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108166"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108166\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":123812,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108166\/revisions\/123812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}