{"id":4121,"date":"2026-05-28T13:08:50","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T13:08:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gaillardiapress.com\/blog\/?p=4121"},"modified":"2026-05-31T07:30:53","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T07:30:53","slug":"sunday-verses-birds-eye-view-5-31-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gaillardiapress.com\/blog\/?p=4121","title":{"rendered":"SUNDAY VERSES: &#8216;Bird&#8217;s Eye View&#8217; (5\/31\/2026)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s better to look west \/ to the Blue Ridge \u2014 \/ toward the sun setting \/ behind Table Rock and Hawksbill \u2014<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4122\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4122\" style=\"width: 171px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/gaillardiapress.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/cupolaframed.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4122\" src=\"http:\/\/gaillardiapress.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/cupolaframed-300x243.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"171\" height=\"138\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gaillardiapress.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/cupolaframed-300x243.jpg 300w, https:\/\/gaillardiapress.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/cupolaframed.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 171px) 100vw, 171px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4122\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">TIMBERLEY PAINTED this &#8216;Bird&#8217;s Eye View&#8217; (1997) for an old friend, an attorney, who left Morganton after high school for a lifelong legal career in Raleigh.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Than to look straight down \/ upon the bloody ground \/ of the old courthouse square \/ in my first and last hometown.<\/p>\n<p>Rising sun or high noon, \/ death still looks the same; \/ its hideous grimace sickens \/ even the strongest of men.<\/p>\n<p>Like the gray soldier \/ standing watch for invaders, \/ or the horde of witnesses exalting \/ the commodore&#8217;s daring deed,<\/p>\n<p>Seeing the fisheyed stare \/ of a dead man or boy \u2014 \/ whether on a cross or a board \u2014 \/ should be no source of pride or joy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s better to look west \/ to the Blue Ridge \u2014 \/ toward the sun setting \/ behind Table Rock and Hawksbill \u2014 Than to look straight down \/ upon the bloody ground \/ of the old courthouse square \/ in my first and last hometown. Rising sun or high noon, \/ death still looks &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/gaillardiapress.com\/blog\/?p=4121\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">SUNDAY VERSES: &#8216;Bird&#8217;s Eye View&#8217; (5\/31\/2026)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaillardiapress.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaillardiapress.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaillardiapress.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaillardiapress.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaillardiapress.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4121"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/gaillardiapress.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4121\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4126,"href":"https:\/\/gaillardiapress.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4121\/revisions\/4126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaillardiapress.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaillardiapress.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaillardiapress.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}