{"id":185,"date":"2026-04-07T22:29:39","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T22:29:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-2\/?page_id=185"},"modified":"2026-04-13T02:47:50","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T02:47:50","slug":"mesa-verde","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-2\/poetry\/mesa-verde\/","title":{"rendered":"Mesa Verde"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michael Eyre<\/span><\/p>\n

They say the ghosts of their ancestors<\/span><\/p>\n

still dwell in this lost city of adobe towers,<\/span><\/p>\n

though the songs and everyday sounds<\/span><\/p>\n

have long since fallen silent.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This hidden place,<\/span><\/p>\n

concealed deep within the canyon,<\/span><\/p>\n

is a sanctuary of beauty –<\/span><\/p>\n

an ancient, sacred site<\/span><\/p>\n

where the children of the Sun Father<\/span><\/p>\n

and Earth Mother lived centuries ago.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There is only silence now,<\/span><\/p>\n

save for the caw of ravens<\/span><\/p>\n

circling the high sandstone cliffs.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Strange symbols carved in stone<\/span><\/p>\n

hint at the vibrant community<\/span><\/p>\n

that struggled to survive<\/span><\/p>\n

in the harsh highland desert.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Out of respect, I whisper \u201chello\u201d,<\/span><\/p>\n

asking permission to enter the pueblo.<\/span><\/p>\n

I feel the ancestral spirits consent<\/span><\/p>\n

as I begin to climb the wooden ladder<\/span><\/p>\n

to the pithouses, where women,<\/span><\/p>\n

wearing turquoise jewelry,<\/span><\/p>\n

once prepared sweetcorn<\/span><\/p>\n

in elaborately patterned pots.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Until one day, they slipped away, never to return.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The canyon is left holding<\/span><\/p>\n

their lingering ghosts,<\/span><\/p>\n

the memory of their voices<\/span><\/p>\n

in these empty, sunken rooms.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And yet, they are still here.<\/span><\/p>\n

I see their presence carried<\/span><\/p>\n

in the lives of their descendents<\/span><\/p>\n

who keep the ways of the ancients alive.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michael Eyre They say the ghosts of their ancestors still dwell in this lost city of adobe towers, though the songs and everyday sounds have long since fallen silent.   This hidden place, concealed deep within the canyon, is a sanctuary of beauty – an ancient, sacred site where the children of the Sun Father… <\/p>\n

Read more Mesa Verde<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":0,"parent":21,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-185","page","type-page","status-publish","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/90"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=185"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/185\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":187,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/185\/revisions\/187"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}