WEBVTT

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Excuse me.

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This is called "The Cripple."

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Little by little,
you'll fade away

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because I start to read
some that I sort of like.

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I never really like
them a whole lot.

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But if somebody calls
on me to defend them,

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I'll do it to the death.

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But you'll just
fade and I'll just--

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I might even start
dancing across the stage.

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[LAUGHTER]

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That's self-love, egotism.

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This is called "The
Cripple," which is not funny.

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It's not a funny poem.

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It's about-- well, I have
a friend who's crippled.

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And I was very touched by his--

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the inhumane treatment
he often receives.

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Like when he takes a
girl out or used to,

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guys would pick a fight with
him and he's on crutches.

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And it's just like
a really sick thing.

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We both call ourselves
social outcasts and we are.

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I, for a number
of reasons, which

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I won't go into because
they're too complicated.

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But I think because he's
crippled and he's poor.

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To be poor is bad enough,
but to be crippled and poor

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is even worse.

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"The Cripple."

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"I pull my legs from the
floor as I would to weeds,

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gently pretending my
roots have remained

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in the soil that
once held me upright

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in the palm of its hand.

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And the road's a black
thread I walked sewing years.

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Instead, the itch
deep in my heel

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cries from its mouth one
thorn after another."

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Sorry, sometimes my mind is
running ahead of the things

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I'm doing.

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And I just forget right in
the middle what I'm reading.

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