WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.790 align:middle line:90%


00:00:02.790 --> 00:00:05.970 align:middle line:90%
One more from here.

00:00:05.970 --> 00:00:09.075 align:middle line:84%
This is an elegy to a friend
of mine who died at age 21.

00:00:09.075 --> 00:00:11.580 align:middle line:90%


00:00:11.580 --> 00:00:14.370 align:middle line:84%
It appears at first
to be set in Berkeley

00:00:14.370 --> 00:00:16.309 align:middle line:90%
in the rose gardens there.

00:00:16.309 --> 00:00:19.200 align:middle line:84%
Those beautiful
tiered gardens, a bit

00:00:19.200 --> 00:00:22.770 align:middle line:90%
like a stadium, 3/4 shells.

00:00:22.770 --> 00:00:25.850 align:middle line:90%
But actually, it's a flashback.

00:00:25.850 --> 00:00:28.640 align:middle line:84%
One other thing
about this, there

00:00:28.640 --> 00:00:30.890 align:middle line:84%
is an adage or an
old wives tale in it.

00:00:30.890 --> 00:00:33.320 align:middle line:90%
And I found it in my notebook.

00:00:33.320 --> 00:00:35.870 align:middle line:84%
I'm not sure whether I wrote
it or whether I copied it

00:00:35.870 --> 00:00:36.680 align:middle line:90%
from somewhere.

00:00:36.680 --> 00:00:37.830 align:middle line:90%
I have no memory of that.

00:00:37.830 --> 00:00:40.400 align:middle line:84%
So if anyone knows where
it comes from, let me know.

00:00:40.400 --> 00:00:47.900 align:middle line:90%


00:00:47.900 --> 00:00:51.230 align:middle line:84%
"One biked easily to the
gardens because the hills

00:00:51.230 --> 00:00:53.510 align:middle line:90%
dipped musically.

00:00:53.510 --> 00:00:56.600 align:middle line:84%
Tiered in colors,
each rose possessed

00:00:56.600 --> 00:01:00.650 align:middle line:84%
the magical name and the
names in a foreign language.

00:01:00.650 --> 00:01:05.450 align:middle line:84%
A stadium of
flowers, each a rose.

00:01:05.450 --> 00:01:08.540 align:middle line:84%
Not to speak about
roses nor the moon,

00:01:08.540 --> 00:01:11.840 align:middle line:84%
nor the names of lost
loves, common songs,

00:01:11.840 --> 00:01:16.100 align:middle line:84%
nor odors which
cannot be recalled.

00:01:16.100 --> 00:01:19.910 align:middle line:84%
We sat on the edge of a bench,
bent toward the gold light

00:01:19.910 --> 00:01:22.670 align:middle line:90%
deepening the red bridge.

00:01:22.670 --> 00:01:24.410 align:middle line:84%
The lights came on
along the bridge

00:01:24.410 --> 00:01:27.140 align:middle line:90%
and bronzed the bay below.

00:01:27.140 --> 00:01:28.610 align:middle line:84%
When the light
reached the roses,

00:01:28.610 --> 00:01:31.670 align:middle line:84%
it was divided into
its individual chords,

00:01:31.670 --> 00:01:35.610 align:middle line:84%
and each allowed itself to be
touched where it was tired.

00:01:35.610 --> 00:01:37.850 align:middle line:84%
We had to sit there because
the light had gone out

00:01:37.850 --> 00:01:38.690 align:middle line:90%
in our pockets.

00:01:38.690 --> 00:01:41.510 align:middle line:84%
And we were heavy
with the light.

00:01:41.510 --> 00:01:43.820 align:middle line:90%
You were gone as suddenly.

00:01:43.820 --> 00:01:46.820 align:middle line:84%
And when I had the
news two days later,

00:01:46.820 --> 00:01:48.770 align:middle line:84%
the rain that was
to ruin the soil

00:01:48.770 --> 00:01:51.830 align:middle line:84%
and be unavailable the following
autumn during the eucalyptus

00:01:51.830 --> 00:01:54.830 align:middle line:90%
fires had already begun.

00:01:54.830 --> 00:01:58.310 align:middle line:84%
The smell of dung and
menthol, hundreds of acres

00:01:58.310 --> 00:02:01.340 align:middle line:90%
of fire into tar-like sap.

00:02:01.340 --> 00:02:06.980 align:middle line:84%
A friend, when you are
not yet both 21 but close,

00:02:06.980 --> 00:02:08.930 align:middle line:84%
breathes in the
darkness that you

00:02:08.930 --> 00:02:12.050 align:middle line:90%
might breathe in and flower.

00:02:12.050 --> 00:02:15.800 align:middle line:84%
I sat on a bench in the
rain on and off for days

00:02:15.800 --> 00:02:19.910 align:middle line:84%
until the roses in that part
of the country for that time

00:02:19.910 --> 00:02:23.330 align:middle line:90%
of year burned with scent.

00:02:23.330 --> 00:02:26.330 align:middle line:84%
I must have been, as
I remembered it later,

00:02:26.330 --> 00:02:30.110 align:middle line:84%
taking a bath during your
last hour in the house

00:02:30.110 --> 00:02:33.080 align:middle line:84%
you'd found for me
on that decent avenue

00:02:33.080 --> 00:02:35.210 align:middle line:90%
I couldn't afford.

00:02:35.210 --> 00:02:39.890 align:middle line:84%
It was fair in those days
to die rather than go back,

00:02:39.890 --> 00:02:44.180 align:middle line:84%
whereas today it is
merely sunny, somewhat

00:02:44.180 --> 00:02:46.160 align:middle line:90%
on the cool side.

00:02:46.160 --> 00:02:49.360 align:middle line:84%
The village reeks
of fresh bread."

00:02:49.360 --> 00:02:53.000 align:middle line:90%