inscription · the memorial bench · west walk
portland stone · 1973 · letterer m. lyle
Hartwick wound the clocks for fifty-one years. he was not the custodian — that is a different office — but he kept what the custodian could not keep: the time. he had the look of a man who knew the second hand personally.
after he died the parish bought a slab of portland stone and set it where he used to take his lunch — west walk, facing the river, where the willows are. the inscription is small. its final line is the kind a friend writes for a friend.
the brass that holds the plaque has gone green; rainwater pools where the W of Watch-keeper meets the K. the letters fill with it, empty, fill again. sit on it; it is meant for sitting. the view is what the inscription is really about.
field-note · do not stand to read the plaque. sit, then turn to it.
see also · watch custodian river memory keeper's seat