WEBVTT

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I lived about half my life in
Tucson and about half my life

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in Fairbanks, Alaska.

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And one of my
friends in Alaska was

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the magnificent marine
biologist Eva Saulitis.

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She was a marine
biologist, an oboe player,

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a marvelous essayist,
a fabulous poet,

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and she died much too soon.

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And this is "A
Valentine for Eva".

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"Impossible grace, all
the rituals you created,

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rituals that shaped your living,
practices for each letting

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go, each person you loved,
even your best beloved.

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Beehives and garden you
could no longer tend,

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the pen you couldn't
hold to jot notes, lines,

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images of whales battering
Dall porpoises then gorging.

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Though you're not there to
see, not there to snap ID

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photos of dorsal
fins or back saddles,

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not there to drop the pickle
that lets you listen in

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on the precise language
distinct to this one clan,

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this one tiny genetically
distinct transient pod

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of mammal-eating killer whales
that you watched carefully

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for more than half your life.

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A family cut short by the spill,
pod quietly not making babies,

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as you did not make babies,
though, you loved some fully.

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Impossible that their genes
like yours will not live on.

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Though a new generation will
move in to their hunting

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grounds, a new set of predators
will eat what they can find,

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and new teams of scientists
some trained by you

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will watch glassing
the calm water

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or finding a snug cove to
wait out the worst blows.

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The wind so cold it
could hollow your bones,

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wind you longed for when you
were too long confined inside,

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cold, cutting, biting, wind that
could kill you but never did.

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Wind full of prayers,
wind that followed you

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from Silver Creek to Prince
William Sound to Homer

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to Kapaau, wind that
confuses even the seas.

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Air alive all over this Earth.

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Air where you live.

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Beloved become earth,
become water, become fire,

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become wind.

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If you get a chance, her final
book is called Becoming Earth,

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and she wrote it when she
knew she would not get well.

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I recommend it to
you most highly.

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