WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.300 align:middle line:90% The second poem is titled Leave. 00:00:03.300 --> 00:00:05.920 align:middle line:84% It's after the poet A. Van Jordan. 00:00:05.920 --> 00:00:09.220 align:middle line:84% And I'll read its epigraph, and then begin the poem. 00:00:09.220 --> 00:00:11.960 align:middle line:90% 00:00:11.960 --> 00:00:16.320 align:middle line:84% The island of Guam is considered an unincorporated territory that 00:00:16.320 --> 00:00:18.800 align:middle line:90% belongs to the United States. 00:00:18.800 --> 00:00:22.600 align:middle line:84% Citizens on Guam may serve in the US military. 00:00:22.600 --> 00:00:26.880 align:middle line:84% Citizens on Guam cannot vote for the US president. 00:00:26.880 --> 00:00:31.360 align:middle line:84% 1 in 8 adult Guamanians is a military veteran. 00:00:31.360 --> 00:00:35.220 align:middle line:84% The highest rate of service among all the 50 states. 00:00:35.220 --> 00:00:38.240 align:middle line:90% 00:00:38.240 --> 00:00:40.240 align:middle line:90% Leave. 00:00:40.240 --> 00:00:42.080 align:middle line:90% Verb 1. 00:00:42.080 --> 00:00:44.880 align:middle line:90% Depart from permanently. 00:00:44.880 --> 00:00:47.600 align:middle line:84% At 18 his father would leave the island 00:00:47.600 --> 00:00:52.920 align:middle line:84% to enlist and provide his future family a life he never lived. 00:00:52.920 --> 00:00:54.480 align:middle line:90% Verb 2. 00:00:54.480 --> 00:00:57.320 align:middle line:90% Allow to remain. 00:00:57.320 --> 00:01:00.840 align:middle line:84% To serve this country, you must leave behind 00:01:00.840 --> 00:01:02.960 align:middle line:90% the one you came from. 00:01:02.960 --> 00:01:05.200 align:middle line:90% This is mandatory. 00:01:05.200 --> 00:01:08.070 align:middle line:90% This is impossible. 00:01:08.070 --> 00:01:10.270 align:middle line:90% Noun 1. 00:01:10.270 --> 00:01:11.630 align:middle line:90% Permission. 00:01:11.630 --> 00:01:13.890 align:middle line:90% Authorized absence from duty. 00:01:13.890 --> 00:01:16.870 align:middle line:84% Each time I took leave, it became 00:01:16.870 --> 00:01:21.390 align:middle line:84% more difficult to return and put my uniform back on. 00:01:21.390 --> 00:01:22.590 align:middle line:90% Verb 3. 00:01:22.590 --> 00:01:24.590 align:middle line:90% Of a plant. 00:01:24.590 --> 00:01:27.230 align:middle line:90% To put out new leaves. 00:01:27.230 --> 00:01:31.070 align:middle line:84% He was obsessed with how trees leaved in spring. 00:01:31.070 --> 00:01:33.990 align:middle line:84% The death their branches wore in winter. 00:01:33.990 --> 00:01:38.270 align:middle line:84% Their breath that birthed a brand new season. 00:01:38.270 --> 00:01:40.190 align:middle line:90% What is a cycle? 00:01:40.190 --> 00:01:43.450 align:middle line:84% My two older brothers followed my father's footsteps, 00:01:43.450 --> 00:01:47.110 align:middle line:84% and no recruiter had to convince me to fall in line. 00:01:47.110 --> 00:01:49.650 align:middle line:90% To not fall far from the tree. 00:01:49.650 --> 00:01:52.870 align:middle line:84% Fall in is the command to gather a group of soldiers 00:01:52.870 --> 00:01:54.210 align:middle line:90% into formation. 00:01:54.210 --> 00:01:58.950 align:middle line:84% I joined in the fall after graduating college. 00:01:58.950 --> 00:02:01.830 align:middle line:90% What were we thinking? 00:02:01.830 --> 00:02:02.990 align:middle line:90% I wasn't. 00:02:02.990 --> 00:02:04.190 align:middle line:90% I was. 00:02:04.190 --> 00:02:06.410 align:middle line:90% My life was leaving me. 00:02:06.410 --> 00:02:09.229 align:middle line:84% All my life had always been leaving 00:02:09.229 --> 00:02:13.100 align:middle line:84% one temporary best friend for another new neighbor. 00:02:13.100 --> 00:02:17.120 align:middle line:84% One bedroom overseas for a state without seasons. 00:02:17.120 --> 00:02:21.340 align:middle line:84% Sometimes I loved how I could outrun lonely. 00:02:21.340 --> 00:02:24.780 align:middle line:90% My feet grew fluent in aqueous. 00:02:24.780 --> 00:02:26.020 align:middle line:90% Fall in. 00:02:26.020 --> 00:02:28.480 align:middle line:90% Pack up, move out. 00:02:28.480 --> 00:02:31.660 align:middle line:84% This is the branch your brothers joined. 00:02:31.660 --> 00:02:35.180 align:middle line:84% These are the roots your father replanted. 00:02:35.180 --> 00:02:38.780 align:middle line:90% I left myself the day I joined. 00:02:38.780 --> 00:02:44.132 align:middle line:84% Then left the military to get myself back. 00:02:44.132 --> 00:02:47.604 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:02:47.604 --> 00:02:53.060 align:middle line:90% 00:02:53.060 --> 00:02:56.700 align:middle line:84% To everyone who has made this fellowship possible, 00:02:56.700 --> 00:02:58.300 align:middle line:90% I am eternally grateful. 00:02:58.300 --> 00:03:00.140 align:middle line:90% And I just want to say. 00:03:00.140 --> 00:03:01.805 align:middle line:90% Si Yu'os ma'åse todus hamyo! 00:03:01.805 --> 00:03:03.000 align:middle line:90% Asta otro biåhi. 00:03:03.000 --> 00:03:06.460 align:middle line:90% 00:03:06.460 --> 00:03:07.740 align:middle line:90% Until we meet again. 00:03:07.740 --> 00:03:09.610 align:middle line:90% Thank you. 00:03:09.610 --> 00:03:16.000 align:middle line:90%