Turning 60

For Jan at 60

Round and full

complete in itself

Eternal.

At the top of a column

you climb and climb---a decade’s worth of years

then pause

at rest in the equilibrium of a perfect number:

a year of evenness and self-sufficiency.

Moving down the column (although up in numbers)

even at midway---it’s nothing, really,

not very far from the top.

But then close, close come those latter years that crush together

and I forget which one; I am just older until

another symmetry is attained, again a cause for celebration.

Now on the right hand of the ranks,

Columns approaching the edge of the ledger

March toward a double perfection, entirely theoretical.  

November 14, 2009
at Steady Eddy’s
Flint, Michigan