WEBVTT

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Thank you.

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I'm really delighted to be here.

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I have very good friends here,
they're wonderful writers here,

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and I think your
landscape is miraculous.

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I know you're not personally
responsible for it,

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but it's a terrific
part of the country.

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I thought I would
start by reading

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a new poem about Halley's
comet, it's very timely.

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I don't know if it's going to be
a spectacular as the last time

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that it appeared, but
I'm going to hope so.

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"Halley's Comet."

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A nomad roaming the
starlit halls of evening

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in a cold sweat from some
early tantrum of light,

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it bolts toward the glow of a
dashing blue planet, ancient,

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glacial, always in a
lather to blaze its loop

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through the pastures of the sun.

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A rumor at first on
1,000 glass lips,

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it passes like winter
from land to land,

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stretching a long arm around
the shivers of the night,

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waving its white plume,
cascading lilies,

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signing the blue petition
of each day with its haste.

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Dropped out of nothing, it
will return to nothing, but in

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between toasts the
miracle waters of Earth:

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the long sermon of her deserts,
the green wings of her jungles,

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the pink moths of her cities
trembling along the hilltops,

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the thick fungus
of her buildings,

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the worn brown
corduroy of her farms,

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the walking symphonies
of dappled cells,

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themselves wonder enough
to startle the eons.

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A waltzing iceberg large as
life, it arrives with a shout

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and will go with a whisper,

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canish from the fragrant
isolation of our skies,

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tugged away by a grip beyond
plea, beyond mourning,

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as if it heard news
from a far country

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it will leave with its cold
gem like pith, a moment's

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gorgeous visitor, fading.

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