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"Act Now & Save"

By Kevin YoungUpdated Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2008, at 7:51 AM ET

Click here to listen to Kevin Young read this poem.


It's a wonder the world
keeps its whirling—

How I've waited
without a word—

Staring where
the sun's no longer—

You gone
into ether, wherever

You want
to call it. Soon

Sun won't fight
off the cold

But today warm
even in the rain.

Whatever the well
you want me

To fall down I will—

Meet me by the deepest
part of the river

And we'll drown together
wading out past

All care, beyond even
the shore's hollers.

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Kevin Young is the author of five books of poetry, including For the Confederate Dead, winner of the Quill Award in Poetry.
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