WEBVTT

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This is a poem that I want to
read for an old friend of mine,

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that came directly out of
something she said -- the poet,

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Susan North, who
lives in Tucson.

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And one time, we were talking
and she made-- casually made

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some remark to the
effect that it's

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impossible to live in the
world without doing harm.

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And I guess she was right.

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It seems so to me.

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This is sort of about the
inadvertent damage we do just

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by sort of minding
our own business

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and trying to take
care of things,

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and about the long
chain of consequences

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that are connected
to any kind of moment

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or any kind of action.

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It's called, "Candlelight."

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"Crossing the porch in a hazy
dusk to worship the moon,

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rising like a yellow
filling station

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sun on the black horizon,
you feel the faint grit

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of ants beneath
your shoes, but keep

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on walking because
in this world,

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you have to decide what
you're willing to kill.

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Saving your marriage
might mean dinner for two

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by candlelight on steak
raised on pasture chopped out

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of rainforest, whose
absence might mean

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an atmosphere of thinness
50 years from now

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above the vulnerable head of
your bald grandson on vacation.

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As the cells of his scalp,
sauteed by solar radiation,

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break down like suspects
under questioning.

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Still, you slice the
sirloin into pieces

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and feed each other
on silver forks

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under the approving
gaze of a waiter whose

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purchased attention
and French name

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are a kind of
candlelight themselves.

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While in the background, the
fingertips of the pianist

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float over the tusks of
the slaughtered elephant

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without a care,
as if the elephant

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had granted its permission."

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