For Saturn, Visiting A Friend On Her 29th Birthday

Saturn, why hello there.
Where the hell have you been?
As expected as your arrival,
we still can't prepare for when.

Brought along bricks and mortar
to build around her ardor
but you can't take away the strength
that's been there for her father.

Your esoteric intent collides with
her moment of truth
and I can't supply a thing but
a hope that things improve.

You're visiting me as well,
I can feel it in my bones.
I can feel it in a heart that
glows in the dark when I write poems.

I was drunk and I was broke
and I almost took my life
in an island where I had thought
I found my future wife.

I'm still drunk, but now more tough
because I've taken my lumps
but out of the ashes are the people
who deserve my fragile love.

One of them is turning 29,
and I know she's doing fine
though it'll only make sense
in the context of a lifetime.

So wish her happy birthday,
she'll do it live and she will thrive
(and I'm alive and I am fine).
You were there in
France 1980 and in NY 2009
and we'll see you in 30 years
after more mountains have been climbed.