WEBVTT

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Now inside the Tropics
Zone, we have WS Merwin,

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someone who continues to work
in service to the natural world.

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"On the last day of the world,
I would want to plant a tree."

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And this is-- it was funny.

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This is a piece
from a longer poem.

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And when I saw it
that way, I didn't

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know how I felt about it.

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I didn't know if it was too
much like advertising copy--

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if it was.

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And I came back I said, gee,
I wonder if I should have

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put more of the poem up there.

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And these two
lines have probably

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had the greatest impact on
visitors coming through.

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And what I learned, in part,
Merwin is a translator.

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And he's translated
Asian, Middle Eastern.

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I mean, he's translated
many, many different writers.

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But within this is
something that you often

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see within both Asian and
Middle Eastern writing.

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And that there is a turn
that takes place that engages

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two parts of your brain.

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"On the last day of the
world--" and the brain

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contemplates on the
last day of the world--

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and then, "I would want to plant
a tree," that moment of hope.

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