WEBVTT

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The next poem I'd like to read
to you is called "The Stone".

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And I'd like to say a word or
two about it before I read it.

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I have my own little
theory of evolution,

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which I imagine things
beginning in silence,

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and the stones appearing
out of that silence.

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Then I imagine the stones at
the beginning of mythic time

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having to make a decision.

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And the decision is, shall I go
on being a stone for eternity,

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or shall I change into
some more complex forms

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and eventually
become a human being?

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So this poem is spoken
by a stone suffering

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this meditation,
whether he should

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begin this long
evolutionary process

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and eventually
become a human being.

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Now, there is a dark shape
that the stone perceives

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somewhere outside of himself.

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Now, I'm not sure--

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and however you want to
take it is fine with me--

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but it's probably that
dark shape is a girl stone,

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because it's a boy
stone speaking--

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I forgot to mention that.

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He doesn't know quite
what to make of this shape

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outside of himself, and this is
part of his meditation, also.

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"The Stone."

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"If I could move, if my dark
speck could become an eye,

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my rough edge an ear.

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If I could smell that dark shape
hushed there, if it is there.

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If I could stretch to touch
that stirring shade, if it does

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stir, if it is there.

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How can I change?

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How can the flecked
dark of my eye

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see that dark flecking
somewhere out there?

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Can my ears' rough edge hear
the swell of a shape outward,

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making the space stir so it
fills between us with something

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to hold as a claw can hold?

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Can I grow a claw?

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Can I grow a foot
to move that claw?

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Would it take too long, longer
than a claw can remain a stone?

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Are there stones
that can stay still?

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Are there stones with no specks
for eyes, no edges for ears?

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Have they flecked backwards,
dwindling to what?

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Would it hurt to grow a claw?

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Would a hurt claw
hurt what it held?

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If the dark thing
frightened me, I

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would eat it with a mouth and
two claws that could grip.

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The dark swallowed inside me.

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Would I tighten to a stone?

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And if I frightened the
dark thing, would it eat me?

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If I cry, "don't eat
me", would it hear?

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What would it do?

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How would I make that cry?

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How long can a stone
remain a stone?

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Can a stone cry?

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Can a claw?

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Can a mouth?

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I will try.

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I will try to find you
if you are out there.

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If you are out there,
try to find me."

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