On Your Birthday, Eleanor
I have so many things to say
to you, to me, everywhere—
lines, songs, reach from mind’s space
to earth, and sea, and tree, and star;
words leap, pushing over like kids
in early snowfall, sliding down
the raw height, hearing the hiss of ice
under runners on the dazzling snow;
words lap like water
through caves, pools, and tides,
words that hold a world
and wonder to your eyes,
words that say, I love you
and will love you always,
words that whirl a world away,
and, having gone so far,
become a sun, a tree, a star.