{"id":2626,"date":"2016-09-27T13:48:55","date_gmt":"2016-09-27T13:48:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/alwyn\/?page_id=2626"},"modified":"2017-02-22T19:43:46","modified_gmt":"2017-02-22T19:43:46","slug":"the-clue-lies-in-the-ladys-toe","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/alwyn\/writing\/poetry\/the-clue-lies-in-the-ladys-toe\/","title":{"rendered":"The clue lies in the lady\u2019s toe"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>On visiting Henry Moore\u2019s sculpture in Dumfries and Galloway<\/em><\/p>\n<p>On a Scottish hillside the bronze statue<br \/>\nof an archetypal king and queen<br \/>\nbraves the elements,<\/p>\n<p>observing, perhaps, a thread<br \/>\nof slit-eyed sheep winding up the hill,<br \/>\nwith careful, delicate tread,<\/p>\n<p>yellow marks like lichen<br \/>\non their rumps, their gaze<br \/>\nfull of vague unanswered questions.<\/p>\n<p>My mind, also, struggles to explain<br \/>\nthe different texture of the metal on<br \/>\nthe king\u2019s right knee. While all the rest<\/p>\n<p>is stippled, rippled, riven<br \/>\nin a pattern to catch the varying<br \/>\nshades of light, his knee is smooth.<\/p>\n<p>What point was the sculptor making<br \/>\nas he carefully fashioned this<br \/>\none unblemished surface?<\/p>\n<p>Only as I descend the hill<br \/>\ndoes a clear-cut memory emerge<br \/>\nfrom long ago, as I recall<\/p>\n<p>a constant stream of pilgrims<br \/>\nfiling past a marble statue of<br \/>\nthe queen of heaven,<\/p>\n<p>the slight roughness of the stone<br \/>\ncontrasting sharply with the smooth<br \/>\nand shining toe<\/p>\n<p>which generations of the pious<br \/>\nhave knelt to fondle and to kiss,<br \/>\nwearing away the awkward corners<\/p>\n<p>and bringing out a deeper shine. The line<br \/>\nof sheep has reached the sculpture now,<br \/>\nand as I watch<\/p>\n<p>each sidles up to the impassive king<br \/>\nand meditatively rubs her rump<br \/>\nagainst his knee.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On visiting Henry Moore\u2019s sculpture in Dumfries and Galloway On a Scottish hillside the bronze statue of an archetypal king and queen braves the elements, observing, perhaps, a thread of slit-eyed sheep winding up the hill, with careful, delicate tread, yellow marks like lichen on their rumps, their gaze full&#8230;<\/p>\n<div class=\"more-link-wrapper\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/alwyn\/writing\/poetry\/the-clue-lies-in-the-ladys-toe\/\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">The clue lies in the lady\u2019s toe<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":1982,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2626","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","entry"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/alwyn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/alwyn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/alwyn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/alwyn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/alwyn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2626"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/alwyn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2626\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2627,"href":"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/alwyn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2626\/revisions\/2627"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/alwyn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/alwyn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}