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Next time what I'd do is look at |
the earth before saying anything. I'd stop |
just before going into a house |
and be an emperor for a minute |
and listen better to the wind |
or to the air being still. |
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When anyone talked to me, whether |
blame or praise or just passing time, |
I'd watch the face, how the mouth |
has to work, and see any strain, any |
sign of what lifted the voice. |
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And for all, I'd know more -- the earth |
bracing itself and soaring, the air |
finding every leaf and feather over |
forest and water, and for every person |
the body glowing inside the clothes |
like a light. |
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