Coming down from the climb
\nIn failing light
\nRopes bandoliered,
\nLike bandits heading for a train,
\nWe pass the apache pantheon<\/p>\n

Its huge rock arrowhead teetering
\nIn uncertain balance.
\nA flicker of shadow fools the eye.
\nThe ghost of Cochise<\/p>\n

Returned to grieve the death
\nOf half his family
\nAt the hand of the fool, Lieutenant Bascom?
\nThen emerging, face daubed
\nTo wreak one last gory<\/p>\n

Saturnalia on gringo and mexicano alike
\nAnd to toll the knell
\nOn a way of life
\nWhere a man won standing through<\/p>\n

The depth of his generosity
\nThe savagery of his close combat
\nThe permanence of his bond
\nBut lost it through
\nDuplicity, cowardice, greed,
\nNiceties marking many of the civilized
\nMen of the time.<\/p>\n

Cochise Stronghold<\/strong>, Dragoon Mountains, Arizona, 1983<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jonathan Slator reading The Ghost of Cochise Coming down from the climb In failing light Ropes bandoliered, Like bandits heading for a train, We pass the apache pantheon Its huge rock arrowhead teetering In uncertain balance. A flicker of shadow fools the eye. The ghost of Cochise Returned to grieve the death Of half his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonathanslator.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonathanslator.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonathanslator.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonathanslator.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonathanslator.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jonathanslator.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonathanslator.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonathanslator.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonathanslator.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}