WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.200 align:middle line:90%


00:00:01.200 --> 00:00:03.180 align:middle line:84%
The character you're
going to meet in this poem

00:00:03.180 --> 00:00:04.890 align:middle line:90%
is my dog Ned.

00:00:04.890 --> 00:00:08.610 align:middle line:84%
He's a golden retriever
and a spectacular example

00:00:08.610 --> 00:00:11.340 align:middle line:90%
of his kind.

00:00:11.340 --> 00:00:12.750 align:middle line:90%
Deep Lane.

00:00:12.750 --> 00:00:16.230 align:middle line:84%
June 23rd, evening of
the first fireflies.

00:00:16.230 --> 00:00:18.480 align:middle line:84%
We're walking in the
cemetery down the road,

00:00:18.480 --> 00:00:21.540 align:middle line:84%
and I look up from my
distracted study of whatever,

00:00:21.540 --> 00:00:25.110 align:middle line:84%
an unfocused gaze somewhere a
few feet in front of my shoes,

00:00:25.110 --> 00:00:28.110 align:middle line:84%
and see that Ned has run
on ahead with the champagne

00:00:28.110 --> 00:00:30.630 align:middle line:84%
plume of his tail
held especially high,

00:00:30.630 --> 00:00:32.910 align:middle line:84%
his head erect,
which is often a sign

00:00:32.910 --> 00:00:34.440 align:middle line:84%
that he has
something he believes

00:00:34.440 --> 00:00:36.840 align:middle line:90%
he is not allowed to have.

00:00:36.840 --> 00:00:40.830 align:middle line:84%
And in the gathering twilight,
what is it that is gathered?

00:00:40.830 --> 00:00:43.110 align:middle line:90%
Who is doing the harvesting?

00:00:43.110 --> 00:00:45.330 align:middle line:84%
I can make out that
the long horizontal

00:00:45.330 --> 00:00:48.570 align:middle line:84%
between his lovely jaws is
one of the four stakes planted

00:00:48.570 --> 00:00:50.850 align:middle line:84%
on the slope to indicate
where the backhoe will

00:00:50.850 --> 00:00:53.010 align:middle line:90%
dig a new grave.

00:00:53.010 --> 00:00:55.530 align:middle line:84%
Of course, my impulse
is to run after him,

00:00:55.530 --> 00:00:58.380 align:middle line:84%
to replace the marker out
of respect for the rule

00:00:58.380 --> 00:01:00.450 align:middle line:84%
that we won't
desecrate the tombs

00:01:00.450 --> 00:01:03.600 align:middle line:84%
or at least for those who
knew the woman whose name inks

00:01:03.600 --> 00:01:06.090 align:middle line:84%
a placard in the rectangle
claimed by the four

00:01:06.090 --> 00:01:09.330 align:middle line:84%
poles of vanishing,
three polls now,

00:01:09.330 --> 00:01:13.080 align:middle line:84%
and how it's within their
recollection, their gathering,

00:01:13.080 --> 00:01:15.060 align:middle line:90%
she'll live.

00:01:15.060 --> 00:01:19.230 align:middle line:84%
Evening of memory, spark
lamps in the grass,

00:01:19.230 --> 00:01:22.920 align:middle line:84%
I stand and watch him go
in his wild figure eights.

00:01:22.920 --> 00:01:24.690 align:middle line:90%
I say, you run, darling.

00:01:24.690 --> 00:01:27.441 align:middle line:90%
You tear up that hill.

00:01:27.441 --> 00:01:31.340 align:middle line:90%
[APPLAUSE]

00:01:31.340 --> 00:01:33.440 align:middle line:84%
Well, I read that
poem this spring

00:01:33.440 --> 00:01:35.210 align:middle line:90%
in a very fancy circumstance.

00:01:35.210 --> 00:01:37.648 align:middle line:84%
It was for the Royal Society
of Literature in London,

00:01:37.648 --> 00:01:40.190 align:middle line:84%
and there were a number of women
who work in the office there

00:01:40.190 --> 00:01:42.403 align:middle line:84%
who got really excited
about that last line.

00:01:42.403 --> 00:01:44.570 align:middle line:84%
And now whenever somebody
has trouble in the office,

00:01:44.570 --> 00:01:45.890 align:middle line:90%
they say you run, darling.

00:01:45.890 --> 00:01:47.750 align:middle line:90%
You tear up that hill.

00:01:47.750 --> 00:01:50.050 align:middle line:90%
I really-- I like that.