WEBVTT

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This is a poem by
a Polish poet--

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I'll be reading in English--

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Wislawa Szymborska.

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It's called "The End
and the Beginning."

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"After every war,
someone has to clean up.

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Things won't straighten
themselves up after.

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Someone has to push the
rubble to the side of the road

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so the corpse-filled
wagons can pass.

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Someone has to wade
through scum and ashes,

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through sofa springs, splintered
glass, and bloody rags.

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Someone has to drag in a
girder to prop up a wall.

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Someone has to glaze a
window, rehang the door.

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Photogenic it's not
and takes years.

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All the cameras have
left for another war.

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You'll need the bridges back
and new railway stations.

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Sleeves will go ragged
from rolling them up.

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Someone, broom in hand,
still recalls the way it was.

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Someone else listens and
nods with unsevered head.

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But already there are
those nearby starting

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to mill about who
will find it dull.

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From out of the bushes,
sometimes, someone still

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digs up rusted-out
arguments and carries them

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to the garbage pile.

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Those who knew what
was going on here

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must make way for
those who know little

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and less than little and,
finally, as little as nothing.

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In the grass that has
overgrown causes and effects,

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someone must stretch out,
blade of grass in his mouth,

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gazing at clouds.

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