WEBVTT

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Thanks very much, Jim.

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I know you're out
there somewhere,

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but I don't see anybody.

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I'm going to be reading
mainly a new work, just

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a couple of poems from
my most recent book,

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and then mainly from
a new manuscript.

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And first, I'll read a poem of
advice called "The Great Day."

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"What if the great
day never comes,

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and your life doesn't
shine with vivid blossoms,

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just with the
usual pale variety.

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What if the best
China never seems

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called for, those dishes
reserved for the friends

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you love the most
on the day they

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return from their
endless travels.

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To use them now for the
only occasions available

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would be to confuse the
high realm with love.

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But not to use them doesn't
that seem wrong, too?

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To leave the best wine
undrunk in the cellar

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for the next owner of
your house to open?

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What then?

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Can you will yourself to
see a common day the way

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a saint might see it,
as a gift from heaven?

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Or the way it appears
from the window

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of the hospital on
the first morning

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the patient feels strong
enough to edge across the room

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and look out.

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There on the street
an angel policeman

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is directing the flashing
mosaic of traffic.

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Or can you see the day
as the dead might see it,

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not the ones who'd
rather rest, but those

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delighted to abandon the gardens
of hell, however fragrant,

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for a chance at crossing
the sea again in a storm?

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The day their ship,
long given up for lost,

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steams into the harbor
while flags flying,

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would be a day to
be toasted with rose

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champagne and heirloom glasses.

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Down the gangway they
come, a little thinner,

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a little unsteady,
eyes wide in wonder

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at their rare good fortune.

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Can you see what they
see as they look around

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or feel what their friends
waiting on the dock

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must feel as they run forward?

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Let me look at you, they
keep saying, suspending

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their formal speech in welcome.

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You look good.

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You look wonderful."

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