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When I was putting together that
book that Bob mentioned Poems

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from the Hebrew, the Crowell
was supposed to bring out

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one of these years or decades.

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I discovered a poet I never read
before named Yehuda Amichai.

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And he is a magnificent poet.

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And he's I guess
in his late 40s.

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Here's a little poem of
his called, "They Call Me".

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I want to read three
short poems of his.

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They call me.

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Taxis below and angels
above are impatient,

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at one and the same time they
call me with a terrible voice.

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I'm coming, I'm coming, I'm
coming down, I'm coming up.

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Well, I probably
have too many poems

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to read altogether anyway.

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I think I'll skip
one of his poems.

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I'll read this, the third one.

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"The Place Where
I Have Not Been."

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The place where I have
not been I never shall be.

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The place where I have been is
as though I was never there.

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People stray far from
where they were born

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and far from the words
which were spoken

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as if by their mouths and
still wide of the promise which

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they were promised.

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And they eat standing
and die sitting.

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And lying down they remember.

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And what I shall
never in the world

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return to and look at
again I am to love forever.

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Only a stranger will
return to my place.

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But I will set down
all these things

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once more as Moses did after
he smashed the first tablets.

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