WEBVTT

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The next poem I'm going to
read is called "Los Caracoles."

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"Snails."

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This was a poem written
in memory of a woman,

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a neighbor of mine,
a French woman,

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when I was a very small child.

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She would give us
buckets, plastic buckets

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to collect snails
from her garden,

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and she would give us
$0.05 for each snail.

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And she died.

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She went on a weekend trip.

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She drowned.

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And so this poem is
dedicated to her.

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It's also a poem about
earning money, right?

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[LAUGHTER]

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"Los Caracoles."

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"Los caracoles, cosas de
flor, de luz y de seda de sol"

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Rubén Darío.

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En ese jardín restituido al
mundo por la cuadrícula de

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verde y vereda hacia el recodo
brumoso de la flor y su ángulo

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más violeta entre las hebras
del sauce y las trizas de humo

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colgadas de oyamel, oí el
guijarro en la sílaba y tras

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rumor vi la súbita alquimia
de un diamante en la corteza,

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cuando ella, la
señora del sendero,

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la extranjera de
escarpín y blanco encaje,

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dijo escargot con la espiral de
una concha restringida entre el

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pulgar y el índice.

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Lo dijo mirando la cubeta llena.

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Mi limpia pizca de caracoles.

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Mi visión de moluscos
en la maleza.

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Mi sueño redondo de plata.

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Dijo el nombre ese día y
los rastros de una perla se

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esfumaron en los
hoyos de la hoja,

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mientras pasaba el tiempo
entre su peineta y el cielo.

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Entre el cabello y la nube, como
una voz rodada por el viento y

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la piedra.

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Y los caracoles a destajo en
la figura plástica del círculo.

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Lentos con su infierno
de pasto y mar,

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iban fraguando el molde de
mi codicia ya nunca resuelta.

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Porque esa cosa tan callada, la
muerte negra de ella el sábado

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siguiente, era una vorágine
de plantas y agua nocturna.

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Vino larga en mi domingo cuando
el tintineo de las monedas en

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mis bolsillos resonó durante
horas como el golpe de su cara

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contra la rivera.

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Y para siempre, desde entonces,
mi primera pérdida se fijó

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a cambio de una ganancia.


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"Snails.

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Things of flowers of
life, and of the sunset."

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Rubén Darío.

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"In that garden,
restored to the world

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by the grade of green
paths toward the misty bend

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of the flower at its
most violent angle

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from the little strands,
and the tatters of smoke

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hanging from a fir tree.

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I heard the pebble
in the syllable,

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and behind that murmur I saw
the sudden alchemy of a diamond

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in the bark, which she, the
lady at the path, the foreigner

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in pumps and white
lace, said escargot,

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with the spiral of a shell held
between thumb and index finger.

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She said it looking at the
whole bucket, my clean catch

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of snails, my vision of mollusks
in the weeds, my round silver

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dream.

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She said the name that day,
and the traces of the pearl

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faded away in the
holes of the leaf,

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while time passed between
the crows and the heavens,

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between her hair and the clouds.

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Like a voice made
smooth by wind on rocks.

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And the snails, restless
in the plastic circle,

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slow in their hell
of grass and sticks,

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began forging the mold
of my covetousness,

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never to be absolved.

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Because that quiet
thing, her Black Death

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the following Saturday,
in the maelstrom

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of plants and nocturnal water,
seemed so long on my Sunday.

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When the jingle of
coins in my pockets

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resounded for hours with
the shock of her face

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against the river bank.

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And since then,
forever, my first loss

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was sealed in
exchange for a gain."

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