WEBVTT

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I will now, in fact, read
a couple of translations.

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These are from the
sequence called "Words"

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by the French-Lebanese
or Lebanese-French poet

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Venus Khoury-Ghata,
who is always

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thinking about her two
languages-- her two

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alphabets, although, French is
the language in which she has

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chosen to write her own
work-- many books of poems

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and many novels.

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And she herself is also
a translator from Arabic

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into French.

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And so this is the three poems
from a sequence called "Words."

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In those days, I know now,
words declaimed the wind.

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Besides pebbles, there
were moons but no lamps.

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The stars would emerge
later from a brawl

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between two flintstones.

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I'll tell you everything.

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There were five pebbles,
one for each continent.

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Big enough to contain a
child of a different color.

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So there were five
children, but no houses.

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Windows but no walls.

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Wind but no streets.

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The first man wore a
stone around his neck.

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He made an arrangement
with the first tree--

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an oak, if I remember correctly.

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The one who got there first,
could drink up the ocean.

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Language at that time
was a straight line

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reserved for birds.

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The letter I was the cleft
of a female hummingbird.

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H-- a letter with one rung
necessary to replace a charred

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sun before nightfall.

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O-- a hole in the
sole of the mirror.

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Unlike the consonants
with their rough garments,

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the vowels were naked.

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All the weaver's art
consisted of humoring them.

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In the evening, they
counted each other

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to make sure no one was missing.

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In the rocky countries,
men slept without dreaming.

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