old man remembers
before we were here
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what it was like there
he says listen before he forgets
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old man says green breathed
bulged into food
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took sun and made air
reached unfurled hung down
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old man says green lived
that got under nails
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in dirt stuff
hid things that crawled
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old man says green was noisy
mouth blowing tiny
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happy or warning
he shows me
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old man jumps off furniture
trying to be light
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like green’s singers
but he can’t lift up
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old man says green
cold made it brown
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changed color
heat yellow
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old man says it spoke
he rubs his palms
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went hush hush in fast air
and makes them whisper
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old man says green held him
hid in its belly
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that he climbed on its shoulders
gathered its scraps
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old man makes me feel
green was like that he says
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knobbed knuckles and toes
but rougher and stranger
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