WEBVTT

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OK, this is another nonet.

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And this is my favorite question
that I think either of my kids

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has ever asked me,
only because it's

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incredibly bizarre
to have formulated

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this as a single question.

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The poem is called ''Leaves'',
and the question is,

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how do leaves fall
off the trees,

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and how did God build this car?

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[LAUGHTER]

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Just take a minute with that.

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[LAUGHTER]

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I remember distinctly
driving to the public library

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down Main Street in my
town when Violet asked that

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from the back seat,
and thinking, OK.

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all right, time out.

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That's a lot.

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That's a lot.

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I think what I
actually answered is

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the first sentence of the poem.

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This is "Leaves''.

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''The tree stops needing
the leaves, so it lets go--

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and people built this car.

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Someone must have
told you what God

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made without telling
you everything

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doesn't mean everything.

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There is light, and
the light is good,

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but some is stoppered
inside bulbs manufactured

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in Schomburg, heirloom
light, the soft incandescence

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of last century.

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Even the sun will burn out,
rattling with bits of broken

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filament, but not
in your lifetime,

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or your children's,
children's, children's.

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And what of the dark?

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You can build it yourself
with your own two hands.

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Do you remember
covering your eyes

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to hide, believing you
made yourself invisible?

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On second thought, the
leaves must let go,

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or else the tree
would keep them''.