WEBVTT

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"In the last two days I
have watched mynas gathering

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materials for their nests.

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Yesterday I saw one
pick up and carry off

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a big clump of dried grass.

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And then I saw
another struggling

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with a big piece of napkin
at the side of the road.

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Such optimism,
beloveds, such optimism.

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We went to the beach
yesterday not in optimism

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but in avoidance and spoke
about the birds around us

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and their constant singing
of small songs, some of them

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ugly to us and some
of them beautiful.

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We were just talking
because we could.

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Because we could spend this
time together in the sun

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and we knew that was
something that mattered

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but as we spoke of bird song
we also spoke of Bush's summit

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Sunday with the leaders of
Britain, Spain and Portugal

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in the Azores,
and the prediction

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that there was a less than one
percent chance of avoiding war.

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When we spoke of birds and their
bowers and their habits of nest

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we also spoke of the Israeli
military bulldozer that

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ran over Rachel Corrie,
the mysterious flu that

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appeared in Hong
Kong and had spread

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by morning to other
parts of Asia,

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Elizabeth Smart's return,
and Zoran Djindjic's death.

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We reclined as we spoke and
we reclined and the sand that

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coated our arms and legs is
known for a softness that

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is distinctive in the
islands and the waves were

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a gentle one to three
feet and a soft breeze

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blew over through the ironwoods
and we were surrounded

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by ditches, streams,
and wetland areas,

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which serve as a habitat for
endangered water bird species.

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There are other sorts
of beauty on this globe,

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but this sort of beauty
is fully realized here.

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This sort of beauty cannot
get any more beautiful,

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any more detailed, any
more rich or perfect.

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But the beach on
which we reclined

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is occupied by the US
military so every word we said

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was shaped by other words,
every moment of beauty occupied.

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We watched the
planes fly overhead

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from the nearby airbase as we
spoke of birds and their bowers

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and their habits of
nest and we were also

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speaking of rolling
start and shock and awe

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and two hundred and twenty
five thousand American forces

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and another ninety thousand
on the way and twenty five

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thousand British forces and
one thousand Air Force, Navy

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and Marine Corps combat and
support aircraft in the area.

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And because the planes
flew overhead when we spoke

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of the cries of birds our every
word was an awkward squawk that

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meant also AH-64 Apache
attack helicopter,

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UH-60 Black Hawk
troop helicopter,

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M2A3 Bradley fighting vehicle,
M1A1 Abrams main battle tank,

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F/A-16 Hornet fighter/bomber,
AV-8B Harrier fighter jet,

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AH-1W Super Cobra attack
helicopter and that soon would

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mean other things also, the
names of things still arriving,

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the B-2 stealth bombers from
Whiteman Air Force Base,

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the B-52 bombers that
are now in Britain."

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