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D.M. THOMAS: And my
last poem, a short one,

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which Peter is again
going to help me with,

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is called "To
Louisa in the Lane."

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Thomas Hardy, the great
English novelist and poet,

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at the end of his life to six
months before he died, and he

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was about 70, wrote
his last love poem

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which was to a farm girl he'd
seen once when he was about 20.

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He passed her in a lane.

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She was called Louisa.

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And they passed, her head
down, he trembling with desire,

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but unable to show it.

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He just murmured, good morning.

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And that was the
end of the affair.

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But his last love poem
comes back to her.

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It's a long way
from the Kama Sutra

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with all its complex
techniques of love.

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And it occurred to me that
perhaps the Kama Sutra is not

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the last word of human love.

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I read a description
of them passing.

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And interwoven with
this are phrases

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of ritual lovemaking from
the Kama Sutra, which

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Peter is going to read.

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"To Louisa in the Lane".

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"When Hardy and
Louisa in the lane--"

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REDGROVE: "the jump of the
hare, says the Kama Sutra."

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THOMAS: "Passed, it mattered
not that never again--

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REDGROVE: "The peacock's
foot, says the Kama Sutra--"

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THOMAS: "would he see her
white muslin aching by--"

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REDGROVE: "the Congress of the
deer, says the Kama Sutra."

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THOMAS: "A moment
can dominate memory."

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REDGROVE: "The line of
jewels, says the Kama Sutra."

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THOMAS: "Good
evening, he stammered.

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Their only word."

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REDGROVE: "The Congress of
the cat, says the Kama Sutra."

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THOMAS: "It is doubtful
if poor Louisa heard."

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REDGROVE: "The broken cloud,
says the Kama Sutra--"

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THOMAS: "As she hurried
on with head downcast."

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REDGROVE: "The tiger's
nail, says the Kama Sutra."

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THOMAS: "But when Thomas
Hardy breathed his last--"

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REDGROVE: "A leaf of the
lotus, says the Kama Sutra."

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THOMAS: "After 50 more years
of passions, and throws--"

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REDGROVE: "The rubbing of the
boar, says the Kama Sutra."

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THOMAS: "The wheel ruts
and the thorned hedgerows."

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REDGROVE: "The coral and the
jewel, says the Kama Sutra."

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THOMAS: "And Louisa, long
in a Stinsford grave--"

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REDGROVE: "The mounting of the
horse, says the Kama Sutra--"

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THOMAS: "Was the last he
remembered of human love."

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REDGROVE: "The line of
points, says the Kama Sutra."

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[APPLAUSE]

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