WEBVTT

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And there's a poem, in the
new poems but after the book,

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called "Homecoming".

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Wittgenstein said
the central theme

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of any poet who lives long
enough to have a central theme

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is homecoming.

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And, you know, I
bow to Wittgenstein,

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who was a very smart man.

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He knew a lot about poetry, too.

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"Homecoming"

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One day, when the summer was
nearly over, and my own hair

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had been white as the
day's clouds for more years

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than I was counting.

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I stood by the
garden that evening,

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Paula was still weeding around
flowers that open after dark.

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And I looked up to the clear
sky, and saw the new moon.

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And at that moment, from behind
me, a band of dark birds,

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and then another after
it, flying in silence.

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Long, curving wings,
hardly moving.

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The plovers, just
in from the sea.

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And the flight,
clear from Alaska.

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Half their weight
gone to get them home.

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But home now.

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Arriving without a sound,
as it rose to meet them.

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