WEBVTT

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Now the last two poems I'll
read are sections of a six part

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elegy I'm writing for my
father who died some years ago.

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And the parts I read
are parts 4 and 5.

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The fourth part is
called "Answers."

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I ask the questions and
the voice of my father

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answers them.

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"Why did you travel?

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Because the house was cold.

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Why did you travel?

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Because it is what
I have always done

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between sunset and sunrise.

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What did you wear?

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I wore a blue suit, a
white shirt, yellow tie,

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and yellow socks.

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What did you wear?

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I wore nothing.

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A scarf of pain kept me warm.

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Who did you sleep with?

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I slept with a different
woman each night.

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Who did you sleep with?

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I slept alone.

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I've always slept alone.

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Why did you lie to me?

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I always thought
I told the truth.

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Why did you lie to me?

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Because the truth lies
like nothing else and I

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love the truth.

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Why are you going?

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Because nothing means
much to me anymore.

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Why are you going?

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I don't know.

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I've never known.

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How long shall I wait for you?

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Do not wait for me.

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I'm tired and I
want to lie down.

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Are you tired and do
you want to lie down?

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Yes, I'm tired and
I want to lie down."

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The fifth section is
called "Your Shadow."

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And there are
certain place names

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mentioned at the beginning
of this poem which

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are, in fact,
places to my father

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had lived in at different
points in his life.

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"Your Shadow."

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"You have your shadow.

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The places where you
were have given it back.

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The hallways and bare
lawns of the orphanage

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have given it back.

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The newsboys home
has given it back.

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The streets of New York
have given it back,

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and so have the
streets of Montreal.

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The rooms in Balanga
where lizards

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would snap at mosquitoes
have given it back.

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The dark streets of Manaus
and the damp streets of Rio

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have given it back.

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Mexico City where you wanted
to leave at has given it back.

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And Halifax with a harbor
would wash its hands of you

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has given it back.

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You have your shadow.

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When you travel the white
wake of your passage

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sent your shadow below,
but when you arrived,

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it was there to greet you.

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You had your shadow.

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The doorways you entered
lifted your shadow from you.

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And when you went
out, gave it back.

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You had your shadow.

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Even when you forgot your
shadow, you found it again.

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It had been with you.

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Once in the country the shade
of a tree covered your shadow,

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and you were not known.

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Once in the country ravens
collapsing around a tree

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made you think of your shadow
and you ask them to be yours,

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and they were.

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Once in the country you
thought your shadow had

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been cast by somebody else,
your shadow said nothing.

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Your clothes carried
your shadow inside.

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When you took them off, it
spread like the dark breadth

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of the past.

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You still had your shadow.

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And your words that
still float like leaves

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in an air that is lost
in a place no one knows,

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gave you your shadow back
once they were spoken.

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The hours in which your
shadow would sleep no longer

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have time for it.

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They gave back your shadow.

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Among your friends, you
claimed you or your shadows son

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and shed what light you could.

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They gave you back your shadow.

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Your enemies gave
you back your shadow.

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They said it was heavy and
would cover your grave.

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Your wife took your shadow
and said she would keep it.

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She died and you found
it beside you on the bed.

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Now you have your shadow.

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You hated the sun
because in the morning

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it would take your shadow.

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And at night, it would give
it back unused, untouched.

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You loved the night
before it was your shadow,

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and you were large
surrounding the moon.

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Winter took your shadow,
which lay like a long cape

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on the snow and gave it
back with your breath.

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When you died, your shadow slept
at the mouth of the furnace

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and eight ashes for bread.

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It rejoiced among ruins.

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It watched while others slept.

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It's shown like crystal
among the tombs,

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not to be damned by abundance
or uplifted by meagerness.

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It composed itself like air.

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It wanted to be
like snow on water.

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It wanted to be nothing,
but that was not possible.

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It came to my house,
it sat on my shoulders.

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Your shadow was yours.

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I told it so.

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I said it was yours.

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I have carried it
with me too long.

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I give it back."

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Thank you.

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[APPLAUSE]

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