WEBVTT

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I'd like to read "Fifteen."

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"South of the Bridge
on Seventeenth, I

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found back of the
willows one summer

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day a motorcycle with engine
running as it lay on its side,

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ticking over slowly
in the high grass.

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I was fifteen.

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I admired all that pulsing
gleam, the shiny flanks,

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the demure headlights
fringed where it lay.

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I led it gently to the road
and stood with that companion,

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ready and friendly.

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I was fifteen.

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We could find the end
of a road, meet the sky

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on out Seventeenth.

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I thought about hills,
and patting the handle

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got back a confident opinion.

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On the bridge we indulged a
forward feeling, a tremble.

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I was fifteen.

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Thinking, back
farther in the grass,

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I found the owner,
just coming to where

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he'd flipped over the rail.

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He had blood on
his hand, was pale.

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I helped him to his machine.

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He ran his hand over it, called
me a good man, roared away.

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I stood there, fifteen.

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