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“Ray may not seem connected on the surface,” Mr. Ghavamian said. “But below the surface he has this poetry within him. They have this poetry in their blood.” Mr. Alvarez said of this connection to his heritage: “was once an empire. We used to worship the sun. But I moved to another empire. The American one. Still I cannot live without this poetry. It is about beauty. I read it every day.” At his shop recently he read aloud from the Rubaiyat, and it became clear where at least some of his romantic outlook on life comes from. After serving a chocolate sundae, he recited from the book’s worn pages.
