Before Dawn
You ask me again this evening
at what price
Does wisdom finally come
in any life
Or at any age & now I think
I know
The answer swear to me that
when I tell you
It is only everything you believe
You will travel as far from this city
as you can before
The streets grow smeared & lost
to the smug
& promiscuous coming of the day
Credit
Copyright © 2018 by David St. John. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on May 23, 2018, by the Academy of American Poets.
About this Poem
“Those late-night, before-dawn conversations we once had routinely with friends when young later become inadvertent accountings of what’s been gained, but also of what’s been lost, along the way—those unexpected human expenses exacted by and paid to experience.”
—David St. John
Author
David St. John
David St. John is the author of over ten collections of poetry, including Study for the World's Body: New and Selected Poems (Perennial, 1994), which was a finalist for the National Book Award. He currently serves on the Board of Chancellors of the Academy of American Poets.
Date Published
05/23/2018