WEBVTT

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And I will end with
a poem that actually

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was up this week on the Academy
of American Poets website.

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"May Perpetual Light Shine."

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This is the Christian
prayer for the dead.

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That's the line that's used.

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Sorry.

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We have encountered storms
perfect in their drench

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and wreck.

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Each of us bears an ornament
of grief, a ring, a notebook,

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a ticket torn, scar.

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It is how humans
know their kind.

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What is known as love, what
can become the heart's food,

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stored away for
some future famine.

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Love remains a jewel
in the hand, guarded,

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shared fragments of earth
and air, drift and despair.

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We ponder what
patterns matter other

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than moons and tides, musical
beats, rumba or waltz, or cha,

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cha, cha.

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Cosmic waves, like
batons fiercely twirling,

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colors proclaiming sparkle
of darkness, as those we love

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begin to delight in
the stars' embracing.

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Thank you so very much.

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[APPLAUSE]