And I will end with a poem that actually
was up this week on the Academy of American Poets website.
"May Perpetual Light Shine."
This is the Christian prayer for the dead.
That's the line that's used.
Sorry.
We have encountered storms perfect in their drench
and wreck.
Each of us bears an ornament of grief, a ring, a notebook,
a ticket torn, scar.
It is how humans know their kind.
What is known as love, what can become the heart's food,
stored away for some future famine.
Love remains a jewel in the hand, guarded,
shared fragments of earth and air, drift and despair.
We ponder what patterns matter other
than moons and tides, musical beats, rumba or waltz, or cha,
cha, cha.
Cosmic waves, like batons fiercely twirling,
colors proclaiming sparkle of darkness, as those we love
begin to delight in the stars' embracing.
Thank you so very much.
[APPLAUSE]