For several years now, New York poet Jack Agueros has been living with Alzheimer's. Slowly but unrelentingly, the disease is erasing his memories. As his daughter Natalia told The New York Times, "There is nothing sadder than a poet without words." The following is a homage to a great poet.

I was irritated with my wife. After waiting for several weeks to carve out some free time to go find a new set of night tables (her own night table had collapsed under the weight of books), we were finally on our way when she stopped to talk to a stranger near our house.