WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.510 align:middle line:90% 00:00:00.510 --> 00:00:03.630 align:middle line:84% Now, I wish I didn't have to tell any of the plot of any 00:00:03.630 --> 00:00:07.920 align:middle line:84% of these poems, but I know that it's difficult to take poems 00:00:07.920 --> 00:00:10.860 align:middle line:90% in on first listening. 00:00:10.860 --> 00:00:15.720 align:middle line:84% So I'll tell you, part of the story of this poem. 00:00:15.720 --> 00:00:23.910 align:middle line:84% In this poem, the speaker of the poem is talking to a woman. 00:00:23.910 --> 00:00:29.130 align:middle line:84% And he is telling her about a past experience 00:00:29.130 --> 00:00:33.010 align:middle line:84% that he has had with another woman, as a matter of fact, 00:00:33.010 --> 00:00:35.190 align:middle line:84% he is telling the woman he is talking 00:00:35.190 --> 00:00:41.730 align:middle line:84% to about an earlier time in which he drowned the woman. 00:00:41.730 --> 00:00:45.600 align:middle line:84% And that's I think all I have to tell you now, 00:00:45.600 --> 00:00:49.455 align:middle line:84% but see if you can follow the story of this poem. 00:00:49.455 --> 00:00:56.440 align:middle line:90% 00:00:56.440 --> 00:00:59.860 align:middle line:84% "The Thrasher in the Willow by the Lake." 00:00:59.860 --> 00:01:02.140 align:middle line:84% Oh, I should mention what a thrasher 00:01:02.140 --> 00:01:06.310 align:middle line:84% is, I don't know if you have thrashers out here. 00:01:06.310 --> 00:01:11.245 align:middle line:84% They're fairly large brown birds, 00:01:11.245 --> 00:01:12.625 align:middle line:90% they're larger than Robins. 00:01:12.625 --> 00:01:18.120 align:middle line:90% 00:01:18.120 --> 00:01:21.900 align:middle line:84% "The Thrasher in the Willow by the Lake." 00:01:21.900 --> 00:01:26.670 align:middle line:84% And remember a man is speaking to a woman. 00:01:26.670 --> 00:01:29.520 align:middle line:90% "Now I can tell you. 00:01:29.520 --> 00:01:33.930 align:middle line:84% Hearing the shrill leaves swishing with your hair, 00:01:33.930 --> 00:01:37.560 align:middle line:84% I can recall just how it happened-- 00:01:37.560 --> 00:01:42.180 align:middle line:84% the air was thick and still like now 00:01:42.180 --> 00:01:46.080 align:middle line:84% and I could see the lake reflect the thrasher in the willow 00:01:46.080 --> 00:01:47.400 align:middle line:90% tree. 00:01:47.400 --> 00:01:52.920 align:middle line:84% I paused, knowing that I could never make her change. 00:01:52.920 --> 00:01:57.990 align:middle line:84% I told her that I thought no simple change could help-- 00:01:57.990 --> 00:02:00.120 align:middle line:90% it was too late for help-- 00:02:00.120 --> 00:02:03.660 align:middle line:84% but still the thrasher in the willow tree 00:02:03.660 --> 00:02:07.860 align:middle line:84% had paused as if it were an omen to reflect 00:02:07.860 --> 00:02:13.350 align:middle line:84% what the lake desired so that I could recall myself 00:02:13.350 --> 00:02:18.210 align:middle line:84% in the stirred wind and fish-like leaves. 00:02:18.210 --> 00:02:21.660 align:middle line:84% I stared at her among the willow leaves. 00:02:21.660 --> 00:02:26.580 align:middle line:84% If she looked young or old or if some change showed rippling 00:02:26.580 --> 00:02:30.270 align:middle line:90% in her face, I can't recall. 00:02:30.270 --> 00:02:36.060 align:middle line:84% I know the thrasher saw her when he paused over the lake 00:02:36.060 --> 00:02:39.570 align:middle line:84% as if he could reflect upon his past, 00:02:39.570 --> 00:02:43.350 align:middle line:90% stop it, and keep it still. 00:02:43.350 --> 00:02:45.420 align:middle line:90% Like this I held her-- 00:02:45.420 --> 00:02:48.060 align:middle line:90% she would not stay still. 00:02:48.060 --> 00:02:51.300 align:middle line:84% I watched, just like the thrasher, 00:02:51.300 --> 00:02:54.300 align:middle line:84% as the leaves stirred in the willow tree 00:02:54.300 --> 00:02:57.450 align:middle line:84% and then I paused, groping for breath, 00:02:57.450 --> 00:03:01.560 align:middle line:84% to see the lake reflect the blurring wind. 00:03:01.560 --> 00:03:05.160 align:middle line:84% Her face refused to change enough 00:03:05.160 --> 00:03:09.900 align:middle line:84% because she knew I would recall that moment always, 00:03:09.900 --> 00:03:14.460 align:middle line:84% that I would recall when her I met the thrasher's eye 00:03:14.460 --> 00:03:21.060 align:middle line:84% and paused, and might have, but never did, let me change. 00:03:21.060 --> 00:03:25.530 align:middle line:84% Her lake sounds gurgled with the fish-like leaves, 00:03:25.530 --> 00:03:29.820 align:middle line:84% and if you listen, you can hear them still. 00:03:29.820 --> 00:03:33.570 align:middle line:84% Listen, they call in the willow, they 00:03:33.570 --> 00:03:36.840 align:middle line:84% reflect the crying of the lake, and may 00:03:36.840 --> 00:03:41.940 align:middle line:84% reflect the words she might have said to make me change. 00:03:41.940 --> 00:03:46.590 align:middle line:84% Maybe she said them, but I can't recall ever 00:03:46.590 --> 00:03:49.350 align:middle line:84% hearing them in the willow leaves 00:03:49.350 --> 00:03:54.450 align:middle line:84% when the thrasher blinked and her eye went still. 00:03:54.450 --> 00:04:01.110 align:middle line:84% You know now why I brought you here and paused. 00:04:01.110 --> 00:04:05.850 align:middle line:84% And since I could not change when the sun paused 00:04:05.850 --> 00:04:10.350 align:middle line:84% to reflect the thrasher's eye among the leaves, 00:04:10.350 --> 00:04:16.169 align:middle line:84% the Willow will recall your face when the lake goes still." 00:04:16.169 --> 00:04:21.269 align:middle line:90% 00:04:21.269 --> 00:04:23.340 align:middle line:84% That's not an autobiographical poem. 00:04:23.340 --> 00:04:26.390 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:04:26.390 --> 00:04:27.000 align:middle line:90%