POEM - On Your Birth

(On the Event of Christine's Fiftieth Birthday)

You received your moonlight skin
That my fingers savor unabashedly,
This skin that reads like poetry,
That I let down my guard for
At its very scent, feeling
Safe from the doubt we carry about in armloads.
You received the moistness of your lips,
The homespun welcome of your hips,
Your generous breath that you
Hand over when we first touch.
This is a language that we have adopted -
This noiseless tongue that leavens
Love like fresh warm bread.
I love the yellow yearning of your trust.
How it reaches out like crowds for the hem of Jesus,
How it sets off the plush azure of your glinted eyes:
For within you is a tidal constancy:
The target for which my arrow ever aims
Finding in me, an unworthy gift giver,
And in you, the grace God seeks to deliver