WEBVTT

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And the next poem is
called, "Author's Prayer."

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Can you follow me OK?

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Yes.

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More or less?

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Yes.

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Ok, "Author's Prayer"

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"If I speak for the dead, I must
leave this animal of my body.

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I must write this same
poem over and over,

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for an empty page is the
white flag of their surrender.

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If I speak for them, I must
walk on the edge of myself.

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I must live as a blind
man who runs through rooms

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without touching the furniture.

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Yes, I live.

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I can cross the streets
asking, 'What year is it?'

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I can dance in my sleep and
laugh in front of the mirror.

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Even sleep is a prayer, Lord.

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I will praise your
madness, and in a language

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not mine, speak of
music that wakes us,

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music in which we move.

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For whatever I say is
a kind of petition,

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and the darkest
days must I praise."

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