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Ann and I were talking at
dinner of the Hebrides,

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and I mentioned having spent
time on the Outer Hebrides

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and that image of--

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I assume this phantasmagorical
of crows picking out

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the eyes of newborn lambs is
something that I witnessed out

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on the Outer Hebrides.

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But obviously, something
that's not limited exclusively

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to that area.

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My poems do move about
the world as I have done.

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And this poem is set in Gaza.

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The number of poems in my
second book, Promised Land,

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were obsessed with the
question of Israel.

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I walk through Gaza,
carrying a book.

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I know that lions move
beneath the Earth.

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Where there are leaves, I see
their eyes turn back the light.

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Where there are
stones, the lions

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weep as we do and their
tears are carried upward

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to the only God who
bends and drinks.

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Because he bends, I know he is
of iron, not stone, their God

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and ours.

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The salt has rusted layers of
armor from his face and arms

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and from his chest,
which also burns.

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How long?

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The prophet asked.

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Meaning, how thick, how far I
walk, the sand is everywhere.

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