WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.920 align:middle line:90%


00:00:02.920 --> 00:00:06.445 align:middle line:84%
It's called "What You
have Come to Expect."

00:00:06.445 --> 00:00:08.678 align:middle line:90%


00:00:08.678 --> 00:00:09.970 align:middle line:90%
"What You Have Come to Expect."

00:00:09.970 --> 00:00:14.230 align:middle line:84%
The first stanza describes a
boy sitting in a movie theater

00:00:14.230 --> 00:00:18.893 align:middle line:84%
watching a movie, and
describes some of the movie.

00:00:18.893 --> 00:00:19.810 align:middle line:90%
But then it comes out.

00:00:19.810 --> 00:00:26.960 align:middle line:90%


00:00:26.960 --> 00:00:30.110 align:middle line:90%
"What You Have Come to Expect."

00:00:30.110 --> 00:00:34.370 align:middle line:84%
The worn plush of the
seat chafes your bare legs

00:00:34.370 --> 00:00:37.520 align:middle line:84%
as you shiver in the
air-conditioned dark,

00:00:37.520 --> 00:00:39.590 align:middle line:84%
watching a man embrace
his wife at the edge

00:00:39.590 --> 00:00:42.500 align:middle line:90%
of their shadowy lawn.

00:00:42.500 --> 00:00:44.360 align:middle line:90%
It was just past dusk.

00:00:44.360 --> 00:00:48.470 align:middle line:84%
And behind them, their house
rise is white and symmetrical.

00:00:48.470 --> 00:00:51.230 align:middle line:90%
Candles burn in each window.

00:00:51.230 --> 00:00:53.660 align:middle line:84%
While from the open
door, a blade of light

00:00:53.660 --> 00:00:56.780 align:middle line:84%
jabs down the gravel
path to a fountain.

00:00:56.780 --> 00:00:59.630 align:middle line:84%
In the doorway wait two
children dressed for sleep

00:00:59.630 --> 00:01:01.400 align:middle line:90%
in white gowns.

00:01:01.400 --> 00:01:02.870 align:middle line:84%
The man touches
his wife's cheek.

00:01:02.870 --> 00:01:05.180 align:middle line:84%
Although he must
leave, he is frightened

00:01:05.180 --> 00:01:07.890 align:middle line:84%
for her safety and the
safety of their children.

00:01:07.890 --> 00:01:09.980 align:middle line:84%
At last, he hurries,
to where two horses

00:01:09.980 --> 00:01:12.170 align:middle line:90%
stamp and whinny in harness.

00:01:12.170 --> 00:01:15.980 align:middle line:84%
Then from your seat
in the third row,

00:01:15.980 --> 00:01:20.030 align:middle line:84%
you follow him through battles
and bloodshed and friends lost,

00:01:20.030 --> 00:01:22.340 align:middle line:90%
until finally he returns home.

00:01:22.340 --> 00:01:25.130 align:middle line:84%
Rides up the lane as dusk
falls to discover all

00:01:25.130 --> 00:01:28.340 align:middle line:84%
that remains of his house
is a single chimney rising

00:01:28.340 --> 00:01:31.550 align:middle line:90%
from ashes and mounds of debris.

00:01:31.550 --> 00:01:33.420 align:middle line:90%
Where is his young wife?

00:01:33.420 --> 00:01:36.830 align:middle line:84%
He stares out across
empty fields, the wreckage

00:01:36.830 --> 00:01:39.080 align:middle line:90%
of stables and barns.

00:01:39.080 --> 00:01:42.920 align:middle line:84%
Where are the children who
are the comfort of his life?

00:01:42.920 --> 00:01:47.030 align:middle line:84%
In a few minutes, you plunge
into the brilliant light

00:01:47.030 --> 00:01:48.920 align:middle line:90%
of the afternoon sun.

00:01:48.920 --> 00:01:51.950 align:middle line:84%
Across the street you see your
bike propped against a wall,

00:01:51.950 --> 00:01:54.800 align:middle line:90%
with your dog waiting beside it.

00:01:54.800 --> 00:01:56.310 align:middle line:84%
The dog is so
excited to see you.

00:01:56.310 --> 00:01:58.070 align:middle line:84%
She keeps leaping
up, licking your face

00:01:58.070 --> 00:02:01.340 align:middle line:84%
while you, still full of the
movie, full of its colors

00:02:01.340 --> 00:02:04.850 align:middle line:84%
and music and lives sacrificed
to some heroic purpose,

00:02:04.850 --> 00:02:07.820 align:middle line:84%
try to tell her about this
unutterable sadness you

00:02:07.820 --> 00:02:12.200 align:middle line:84%
feel on a Saturday
afternoon in July 1950.

00:02:12.200 --> 00:02:15.320 align:middle line:84%
Bicycling home, you
keep questioning

00:02:15.320 --> 00:02:17.627 align:middle line:90%
what happened to the children.

00:02:17.627 --> 00:02:20.210 align:middle line:84%
What happened to their father,
standing by the burned wreckage

00:02:20.210 --> 00:02:21.290 align:middle line:90%
of his house?

00:02:21.290 --> 00:02:24.290 align:middle line:84%
And you wish there were someone
to explain this problem, too.

00:02:24.290 --> 00:02:26.690 align:middle line:84%
Someone to help you
understand the sense

00:02:26.690 --> 00:02:28.070 align:middle line:90%
of bereavement and loss.

00:02:28.070 --> 00:02:33.020 align:middle line:84%
You, who are too young even
to regret the passage of time.

00:02:33.020 --> 00:02:36.500 align:middle line:84%
Next year, your
favorite aunt will die.

00:02:36.500 --> 00:02:41.420 align:middle line:84%
Then your grandparents, one
by one, and even your cousins.

00:02:41.420 --> 00:02:44.960 align:middle line:84%
You sit on the seat of your
green bike with balloon tires,

00:02:44.960 --> 00:02:47.590 align:middle line:84%
and watch your dog
waiting up the street.

00:02:47.590 --> 00:02:51.020 align:middle line:84%
A bayou tapestry dog, brindle
with thin legs and a Greyhound

00:02:51.020 --> 00:02:52.640 align:middle line:90%
chest.

00:02:52.640 --> 00:02:57.410 align:middle line:84%
A dog, now no more than a speck
of ash in the Michigan dirt.

00:02:57.410 --> 00:02:59.870 align:middle line:84%
From a distance of
30 years, you see

00:02:59.870 --> 00:03:03.800 align:middle line:84%
yourself paused at the
intersection, a thin blond boy

00:03:03.800 --> 00:03:05.620 align:middle line:90%
in khaki shorts.

00:03:05.620 --> 00:03:08.780 align:middle line:84%
You see yourself push off
into the afternoon sunlight,

00:03:08.780 --> 00:03:11.510 align:middle line:84%
clumsily entering
your future the way

00:03:11.510 --> 00:03:14.630 align:middle line:84%
a child urged on by
his frightened nurse

00:03:14.630 --> 00:03:17.930 align:middle line:84%
might stumble into a plowed
field in the dead of night,

00:03:17.930 --> 00:03:21.860 align:middle line:90%
half running, half pulled along.

00:03:21.860 --> 00:03:27.550 align:middle line:84%
Behind them, gunshots flame
in a crack of burning wood.

00:03:27.550 --> 00:03:32.420 align:middle line:84%
Far ahead, a black
line of winter trees.

00:03:32.420 --> 00:03:38.810 align:middle line:84%
Now, after 30 years, the
trees have come closer,

00:03:38.810 --> 00:03:40.610 align:middle line:90%
glancing around you.

00:03:40.610 --> 00:03:43.640 align:middle line:90%
You discover you are alone.

00:03:43.640 --> 00:03:45.620 align:middle line:84%
Raising your hands to
your face and beard,

00:03:45.620 --> 00:03:49.730 align:middle line:84%
you find you are
no longer young.

00:03:49.730 --> 00:03:54.920 align:middle line:84%
While the only fires are the
fleck of stars above you.

00:03:54.920 --> 00:04:00.560 align:middle line:84%
The only face is the
crude outline of the moon.

00:04:00.560 --> 00:04:03.620 align:middle line:84%
Distant as any
family you might have

00:04:03.620 --> 00:04:07.347 align:middle line:84%
had, cold, in a way you
have come to expect.

00:04:07.347 --> 00:04:17.260 align:middle line:90%
[APPLAUSE]

00:04:17.260 --> 00:04:19.170 align:middle line:90%
It's called "Dancing in