[David Rosenthal]

This Daniel Anderson poem is my annual incantation for tonight's Fall Back ceremony:


STANDARD TIME

The church's spire, the courthouse clock,
And all the slanted roofs that line the square,
Of dime store, bank, and Mitchell's Shoe Repair,
Have joined their silhouettes to interlock
Against the evening's cold cornflower sky.
The velvet counter-darkness of the street
Seems painted by the sly hand of Magritte
To stump the mind and its bewildered eye.

A failing light. The Growing Zodiac.
A windfall hour spent. Each leaf-lined yard
Is cloaked in tones of cobble and slate
As we discover in our turning back
An early dusk we cannot disregard,
A change we never quite anticipate.