WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.980 align:middle line:90% 00:00:01.980 --> 00:00:10.310 align:middle line:84% My friend and I are in love with the same woman. 00:00:10.310 --> 00:00:16.490 align:middle line:84% He says, her kisses open wounds in me 00:00:16.490 --> 00:00:22.610 align:middle line:84% through which you can see all the way to the smoke rising 00:00:22.610 --> 00:00:29.420 align:middle line:84% from those ancient altars, streaming with the wine, milk, 00:00:29.420 --> 00:00:36.980 align:middle line:84% and fresh blood of our earliest rites and ceremonies. 00:00:36.980 --> 00:00:43.760 align:middle line:84% Sacred love has savage roots, he says. 00:00:43.760 --> 00:00:49.520 align:middle line:84% Is that the woman I meet each night, I wonder. 00:00:49.520 --> 00:00:55.130 align:middle line:84% He says, I'm an illuminated book written 00:00:55.130 --> 00:00:59.870 align:middle line:84% in a language I don't know and full of images 00:00:59.870 --> 00:01:03.020 align:middle line:90% difficult to interpret. 00:01:03.020 --> 00:01:11.240 align:middle line:84% In the light of her reading, her eyes waking each letter of me, 00:01:11.240 --> 00:01:15.800 align:middle line:84% her fingers running along each sentence of me, 00:01:15.800 --> 00:01:23.810 align:middle line:84% her voice sounding each phrase, her breath touching each pause 00:01:23.810 --> 00:01:29.540 align:middle line:84% in me, the pictures move, and every syllable 00:01:29.540 --> 00:01:34.820 align:middle line:84% burns bright, ringing to disclose 00:01:34.820 --> 00:01:39.920 align:middle line:84% the grief-stricken paths of wisdom. 00:01:39.920 --> 00:01:47.210 align:middle line:84% All lovers begin in hell and end in knowledge, he says. 00:01:47.210 --> 00:01:52.470 align:middle line:84% Is that true for me, I ask myself. 00:01:52.470 --> 00:01:55.080 align:middle line:84% I wish I could play an instrument. 00:01:55.080 --> 00:01:58.190 align:middle line:90% I'd write a song about her. 00:01:58.190 --> 00:02:00.350 align:middle line:90% I wish I could sing. 00:02:00.350 --> 00:02:02.990 align:middle line:90% I'd sing about her. 00:02:02.990 --> 00:02:05.690 align:middle line:90% I wish I could write a poem. 00:02:05.690 --> 00:02:09.530 align:middle line:90% Every line would be about her. 00:02:09.530 --> 00:02:14.300 align:middle line:84% Instead, I listen to my friend speak 00:02:14.300 --> 00:02:18.080 align:middle line:84% about this woman we both love, and I 00:02:18.080 --> 00:02:23.750 align:middle line:84% think about all the ways she is unlike anything he 00:02:23.750 --> 00:02:28.500 align:middle line:84% says about her and everything else in the world. 00:02:28.500 --> 00:02:29.000 align:middle line:90%