I'll just read one more.
And again you, and again you, face for a gathering, a you
face, a you face.
My doll, my Matt doll, oh, you held me and I wanted to stay.
In the classrooms, they are chanting vowels.
Who's chanting?
A lesson.
Chant now.
Where are you going big pig?
I'm going to dig, to dig.
And what will you dig big pig?
A big white turnip.
These and the vowels as they unfold or unfetter
or calcify in soup or a name for a place or a shaming place.
Your face hears its name and brightens, collects,
redraws old storybooks, maps to the treasure
in the yard, the hidden coins, the snakeskin, cigar box
with some of your baby teeth.
A tonic against memory loss.
But it goes, you watch it.
Muhammad Ali, his hands shake now.
Almost uncontrollably says, I was 20.
20 what?
22.
Now I'm 54, 54.
He says nothing for a minute or so,
then he says, time flies, flies, it flies away.
Then very slowly Ali lifts his hand
and flutters his fingers like the wings of a bird.
Thank you thank you so much for delight, a true delight.
[APPLAUSE]