WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.110 align:middle line:90% 00:00:01.110 --> 00:00:09.720 align:middle line:84% This poem that I'll read next, and last, I guess, of my poems, 00:00:09.720 --> 00:00:11.340 align:middle line:84% is called "Elegy for the Burned." 00:00:11.340 --> 00:00:14.550 align:middle line:84% And I have to explain it a little bit because it 00:00:14.550 --> 00:00:17.985 align:middle line:84% concerns some history that you might not remember. 00:00:17.985 --> 00:00:20.790 align:middle line:90% 00:00:20.790 --> 00:00:23.652 align:middle line:84% It takes place in Prague, as will other things 00:00:23.652 --> 00:00:25.110 align:middle line:84% that I'm going to read you tonight. 00:00:25.110 --> 00:00:29.310 align:middle line:84% This is sort of the introduction to that part of the reading. 00:00:29.310 --> 00:00:37.230 align:middle line:84% And there's mention in it of Jan Masaryk, who would be, 00:00:37.230 --> 00:00:41.400 align:middle line:84% if George Washington had had a son in this country who 00:00:41.400 --> 00:00:43.800 align:middle line:84% either committed suicide or was murdered, 00:00:43.800 --> 00:00:46.530 align:middle line:84% that's who this person is in Czechoslovakia. 00:00:46.530 --> 00:00:49.320 align:middle line:84% His father founded the country as a republic. 00:00:49.320 --> 00:00:51.840 align:middle line:84% And he was active in the government himself 00:00:51.840 --> 00:00:54.900 align:middle line:84% when it became a communist country in 1948. 00:00:54.900 --> 00:00:57.750 align:middle line:84% He was found dead below his room. 00:00:57.750 --> 00:00:59.610 align:middle line:84% And nobody knows whether he was killed 00:00:59.610 --> 00:01:03.330 align:middle line:84% or whether he committed suicide in desperation. 00:01:03.330 --> 00:01:05.129 align:middle line:90% That's mentioned. 00:01:05.129 --> 00:01:11.280 align:middle line:90% Also, in 1968, Russia-- 00:01:11.280 --> 00:01:14.250 align:middle line:84% the Soviet Union-- occupied Czechoslovakia-- it still 00:01:14.250 --> 00:01:17.220 align:middle line:84% occupies it-- after an attempt on the part of the Czechs 00:01:17.220 --> 00:01:22.350 align:middle line:90% to liberalize their own regime. 00:01:22.350 --> 00:01:29.160 align:middle line:84% In an act of great desperation and national love, 00:01:29.160 --> 00:01:34.530 align:middle line:84% a young student named Jan Palach burned himself on the main drag 00:01:34.530 --> 00:01:37.980 align:middle line:84% of Prague, the main street, called Václavské námestí, 00:01:37.980 --> 00:01:40.470 align:middle line:90% which is Wenceslas Square. 00:01:40.470 --> 00:01:45.360 align:middle line:90% And that is mentioned here. 00:01:45.360 --> 00:01:48.330 align:middle line:84% And also, if you don't know what slivovitz is, you should. 00:01:48.330 --> 00:01:49.828 align:middle line:90% It's a wonderful plum brandy. 00:01:49.828 --> 00:01:51.120 align:middle line:90% And you'll find out about that. 00:01:51.120 --> 00:01:53.700 align:middle line:90% 00:01:53.700 --> 00:01:58.770 align:middle line:84% The poem is dated, but the poem was all written at one time. 00:01:58.770 --> 00:02:01.620 align:middle line:84% The dates refer to what's happening in the poem, not 00:02:01.620 --> 00:02:03.690 align:middle line:90% when I wrote the poem. 00:02:03.690 --> 00:02:06.120 align:middle line:90% "Elegy for the Burned" 00:02:06.120 --> 00:02:10.020 align:middle line:90% January, 1969. 00:02:10.020 --> 00:02:13.260 align:middle line:90% Anthracite sours the air. 00:02:13.260 --> 00:02:15.780 align:middle line:84% The sun's no better than a gas lamp. 00:02:15.780 --> 00:02:20.070 align:middle line:84% And the cocaine of the fog has confused the trees. 00:02:20.070 --> 00:02:23.560 align:middle line:90% Later, slush chokes the gutters. 00:02:23.560 --> 00:02:26.100 align:middle line:84% The moon will elude the oily clouds 00:02:26.100 --> 00:02:30.960 align:middle line:84% as it rises over the russet tiles of the fluted roofs. 00:02:30.960 --> 00:02:34.410 align:middle line:84% Icicles are dangling from the eaves of the Savarin Palace, 00:02:34.410 --> 00:02:39.210 align:middle line:84% where Jan Masaryk jumped, or was pushed, but definitely died, 00:02:39.210 --> 00:02:41.700 align:middle line:90% 21 years ago. 00:02:41.700 --> 00:02:46.260 align:middle line:84% On Václavské námestí, Jan Palach has lit his match. 00:02:46.260 --> 00:02:49.790 align:middle line:84% He has breathed his last gold in the golden city. 00:02:49.790 --> 00:02:51.960 align:middle line:90% He has become many colors. 00:02:51.960 --> 00:02:54.930 align:middle line:84% In the emergency room of Bellevue Hospital, 00:02:54.930 --> 00:02:57.750 align:middle line:84% my brother fights to save the melting 00:02:57.750 --> 00:03:01.290 align:middle line:84% bodies of two other men who tried to go up in smoke 00:03:01.290 --> 00:03:03.030 align:middle line:90% in front of the UN building. 00:03:03.030 --> 00:03:05.100 align:middle line:90% It's the fingernails, he says. 00:03:05.100 --> 00:03:08.730 align:middle line:84% You can't get the fingernails out of their gums. 00:03:08.730 --> 00:03:10.020 align:middle line:90% They double over. 00:03:10.020 --> 00:03:13.740 align:middle line:84% They crouch down and dig into their mouths one last time, 00:03:13.740 --> 00:03:17.970 align:middle line:84% but the right words aren't there anymore. 00:03:17.970 --> 00:03:21.540 align:middle line:90% May, 1977. 00:03:21.540 --> 00:03:24.060 align:middle line:84% We sit around a white linen cloth stitched 00:03:24.060 --> 00:03:26.250 align:middle line:90% with red geometric embroidery. 00:03:26.250 --> 00:03:29.850 align:middle line:84% A tall bottle of slivovitz on the table, flecks 00:03:29.850 --> 00:03:33.270 align:middle line:84% of caraway in the bread, a mound of codfish roe 00:03:33.270 --> 00:03:36.660 align:middle line:84% heaped like tiny greased ball bearings. 00:03:36.660 --> 00:03:40.860 align:middle line:84% Outside, the engaged couples move in and out 00:03:40.860 --> 00:03:42.870 align:middle line:90% of the Persian lilacs. 00:03:42.870 --> 00:03:46.230 align:middle line:84% One man, a doctor, tells me there was never 00:03:46.230 --> 00:03:49.770 align:middle line:90% any hope, then or now. 00:03:49.770 --> 00:03:53.310 align:middle line:84% Later, we raise our glasses in the high-ceilinged apartment. 00:03:53.310 --> 00:03:54.450 align:middle line:90% Drink fast, they say. 00:03:54.450 --> 00:03:55.860 align:middle line:90% Don't think. 00:03:55.860 --> 00:03:58.020 align:middle line:84% We throw back our heads, our tongues 00:03:58.020 --> 00:04:00.480 align:middle line:90% burn briefly, then our throats. 00:04:00.480 --> 00:04:01.530 align:middle line:90% It is gone. 00:04:01.530 --> 00:04:04.690 align:middle line:84% The colorless abstract of blue plums, 00:04:04.690 --> 00:04:07.890 align:middle line:84% the heat distilled in dusty Moravian towns, 00:04:07.890 --> 00:04:11.580 align:middle line:84% the forgotten villages, the narrow highways 00:04:11.580 --> 00:04:16.110 align:middle line:84% lined with fruit trees that very soon will rush into flower, 00:04:16.110 --> 00:04:20.280 align:middle line:90% all those flimsy pink blossoms. 00:04:20.280 --> 00:04:23.630 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:04:23.630 --> 00:04:29.000 align:middle line:90%