101 Poems, Number 11

Favorite Poems Throughout My Life

11: “Stone on Watch at Dawn,” in New York Times Magazine, 29 July 2016, by Brynn Saito (1981–)

Another poem that I found

While paging through the Magazine—

I read it—felt that I was bound

To memorize the lines I’d seen.

And so I did—and quickly so.

And now I mumble them at dawn

(Words unrehearsed so soon will go!)—

Oh, aren’t I just a paragon?!?

A writer needs to recognize,

So says the poet in these lines,

The things she’s witnessed with her eyes,

For passing time all undermines.

Link to poem.