April 23: At Will

Today, I took a dear friend out to eat

To celebrate his birthday, and we drank

To health and love and spouses. Thus replete

With good opinions, in our chairs we sank,

Each falling into quiet contemplation.

I marveled how four hundred fifty years

Had compounded his worldwide reputation,

Yet here we were, enjoying quips and beers.

I wished I could articulate a fraction

Of how his words drew me from solitude,

Soliloquies of limitless attraction,

And verses that my writer’s soul renewed.

I thanked him; he ac...