WEBVTT

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A new cycle.

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My-- this is was my 35th
birthday poem and of course,

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the news cycle refers to--

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as you see, we'll
refer to two things.

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A new cycle.

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My father buying me the
bicycle that time was

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an unusual thing for him to do.

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He believed that a
parent's duty meant

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the necessities food, clothing,
shelter, and music lessons.

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[LAUGHTER]

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I had hardly dared
to ask him for it

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and I didn't believe he
really meant to buy me one,

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until I saw him
take out the money

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and hand it over $8 second
hand, but newly painted and good

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rubber.

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And I couldn't thank him, a
hug was out of the question

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with us.

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So I just got up on it
and rode away shakily.

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And then I made him
ride it, he didn't even

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know he was supposed to
say it was a good bike.

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I rode off on it into a new
life paper route, pocket money,

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dances and other towns where
the girls found me attractive.

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And sexual adventures
that would have

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made my father's hair stand
up in horror had he known.

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[INTERPOSING VOICES]

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Daddy, I can thank you now
for the bike you gave me,

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which meant more
to me than you knew

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or could have stood to know.

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[LAUGHTER]

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I rode away to everywhere it
could take me, until finally it

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took me to this know-- nowhere,
there's no place I am now.

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I just passed my 35th birthday,
the end of a second seven year

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cycle and the
beginning of a new one

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and sure enough I woke up
the first day quite empty,

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everything over with nothing to
do and no ideas for the future.

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Daddy, whom I now
can hug and kiss

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who gives me money when I ask.

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What shall I do with
this life you gave me,

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that can not be junked like
a bicycle when it wears out?

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Is it utterly ridiculous for
a man 35 years old and graying

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to sit-in his father's
lap and ask for a bike,

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even if he needs one.

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[LAUGHTER]

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Whom shall he ask
if not his father.

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Daddy, darling daddy,
please, buy me a bicycle.

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[APPLAUSE]

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