{"id":1701,"date":"2018-11-21T06:26:15","date_gmt":"2018-11-21T13:26:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.irenenorth.com\/writings\/?p=1701"},"modified":"2024-04-22T02:46:13","modified_gmt":"2024-04-22T02:46:13","slug":"when-the-hour-arrives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/2018\/11\/21\/when-the-hour-arrives\/","title":{"rendered":"When the hour arrives"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/agate-IMG_8635.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-1702\" src=\"https:\/\/www.irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/agate-IMG_8635-1024x458.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"629\" height=\"281\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>When the hour arrives<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>I<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As I awaken<br \/>\nthe knot in my stomach tugs at my soul<br \/>\nI stare upward<br \/>\nthe ceiling, dimly lit<br \/>\nby the luminous blue and yellow<br \/>\nof the cable modem<\/p>\n<p>before I realize it&#8217;s happening<br \/>\nbefore I can fight to hold them back<br \/>\nwarm tears punch my cool face<br \/>\ntheir fire burns<br \/>\nas they trail toward my ears<\/p>\n<p>4:27 a.m.<br \/>\nmy day must start<br \/>\nI don&#8217;t want it to<br \/>\nas with everything<br \/>\nthis is not my choice<br \/>\nfate has struck me again<br \/>\nwith another cruel hand<br \/>\nthat I must play<\/p>\n<p>Cinders purrs<br \/>\nshe has rested all night<br \/>\nupon my chest<br \/>\nShe licks away a tear<br \/>\npresses her head<br \/>\ninto my chin<br \/>\nbefore returning to her slumber<\/p>\n<p><strong>II<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I open my mouth to speak to you<br \/>\nthe words do not come out<br \/>\nI have so much to say<br \/>\nyet the syllables do not form<\/p>\n<p>My mind scatters to and fro<br \/>\nI can&#8217;t think<br \/>\ncan&#8217;t focus<br \/>\ncan&#8217;t see<br \/>\nthrough the sorrowful, watery inferno<\/p>\n<p>I try to use my hand<br \/>\nto coax the sounds from within<br \/>\nbut there is only silence<br \/>\nWords cannot change reality<br \/>\nor the impending separation<\/p>\n<p>Now that the time is here<br \/>\nI find I do not want to go<br \/>\nI cannot have what I want<br \/>\nso the tears burn<br \/>\nunseen scars<br \/>\non my face<br \/>\nmy perception blurs<br \/>\nand I am comforted no more<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[219,254,284,285],"class_list":["post-1701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","tag-life","tag-nebraska","tag-poem","tag-poetry"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1701"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1701\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3792,"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1701\/revisions\/3792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}