A 60th birthday poem for Barbara         At the mirror (60th for Michael )

Two times three and add an “O”                            I never thought that I should see

To mark the pain, the hurt, the woe                        My body quite as old as thee.

Of body ache and time ill spent--                            My mortal coil get thin and frail

But this is not a poem to lament.                            I sometimes feel like I'm in jail.

For sometimes there is joy in age                            But when I raise my eyes each day

That springs up fresh like garden sage                   I have a brand new act to play

That sparkles wit and verbal thrust                        It gives me joy to be alive

That dances light and mocks this dust.                  To work, to laugh, to think, to strive.

What me, like the elderly? That’s not right.             I do the law, it’s been my life

I’ve learned to swim, to sing, to play the night.       Along with family, children, wife. 

I’ve learned the moment’s fleeing joy.                     Clients, contracts, precedent, fact

I may mock; I don’t annoy.                                     Arguments going forth and back.

At fifty, I entered the serious years.                          The law is the frame of our human house

I tried to be just, authentic, sincere.                        The wall we build to practice right

I dressed myself up, I wore a hat.                            The law is a gossamer of the human heart

I smiled or frowned at this and that.                        Torn so easily by might.

Well damn it all, it didn’t work.                               It’s not enough, it does not suffice

Behind my front was always a smirk.                       To ward off wrong or clamp down vice.

Not that I don’t have loves or hates,                        The ugliness of greed and sin

Things that matter, heavy weights.                          Keeps breaking in.

But I’ve gone too far, done seen too much.               I do the law, I keep my part

The stars that flicker, the life from the sea,               I work with dignity and art

Puzzles of mind and people that haunted me—        I hone my words within its frame

The way of the world, the ebb and flow—                I work for myself, not money or fame.

Seen it come, seen it go—

I know the joy, I know the pain.                              I am a lawyer, it's been my life.

I know life is up and down again                             Along with family, children, wife.

And steady is as steady stays,                                   I love my work, but I love them more--

To work with art our leathery days.                          the music, the laughter, memories, friends

                                                                                the years ever faster, the days more intense.

I think, I listen, I kiss, I touch.

I am the sea, the sky, the song.                                I've built a house, paid off my debt

I am the earth.                                                         There's lots of time left for me yet

At sixty, now, I belong.                                            There are seas to sail, much, much remains

                                                                                I'm at the beginning, here, now, again.

                                                                                I am the law, its voice, its thought.

                                                                                But now I love the human heart,

                                                                                the human hope, the human breast.

                                                                                I love the human is no less than the ought.

                                                                                I am become ALIVE in this human frame

                                                                                And I shall not be without joy again.