WEBVTT

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This is "Bitter Herb".

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And there's a reference here
for the story of Gilgamesh

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that oldest epic of
Western civilization.

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But I don't think I really
need to explain it too much.

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"Bitter Herb".

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"I had to lie down
in the Earth myself

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plowing the sand with my
belly, propelling myself

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under the wire fence
that kept us apart.

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I just stood there
for a long time

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on the other side just
clinging to a post

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until the Sheriff
said someone would

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have to cross over
and identify the body.

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Through the gauntlet
of the Earth,

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the scrambling weeds, the
willows striking my shoulders

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like whips.

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I crawled, and
bent, and shuffled

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until I was beside my brother.

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His face as if someone
had taken it apart

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and put it back together
in a wry riddle of wood.

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Death was a riddle
to Gilgamesh when

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he went looking for a way to
bring his brother Enkidu back

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to life.

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He was told to find the plant of
opening, a mysterious herb that

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grew by the banks of a
stagnant pond like this one

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at the edge of a desert
waste and was warned

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that it would prick his own hand
as he cut free its bitter root.

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On the way back, Gilgamesh
stopped to rest and bathe

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as he drifted back into
himself full of relief, reverie

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and rescue.

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A snake came out of the
grasses, and swallowed

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the herb of eternal life.

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But these waters near
where my brother lay

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were still and empty.

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The plant of opening,
rose colored,

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ambrosial did not shimmer like
a prism in the murky depths.

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My brother had aimed
at his own heart.

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Not once, but twice firing
down the pathway of the soul.

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And the only sign of a snake
was his discarded skin.

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When I said, yes, that is my
brother, Clinton Seiferle.

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I heard the fingers of the
dead snapping around me.

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They would not let me touch him.

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He was still evidence,
the last witness

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of the story they
thought they would find

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in the cleanings of his
fingernails in his shirt

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as if shredded by a swarm of
bees from the powder burns.

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In the ground
seething with ants.

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The flies swarming,
and settling upon him.

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His dead dog that
lay at his feet.

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He had come to the edge of
that abyss, where fear came out

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of the water and consumed
whatever could have brought him

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back to life.

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Three days later, I'm the only
one who comes back to life

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realizing that I'm still
wearing the same clothes.

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My jeans prickly with nettles.

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As I slip out of the
black and stinging fabric,

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I find the pockets
are full of sand.

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How can I give this
Earth to the waters

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for touching these fine grains,
these sparkling abrasions?

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It seems I touch all
that remains of the lost

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face of my brother."

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