Poem for her Birthday

I sing you ripe among clever stars

dancing with the wind and water

You are my music, your veins the

drumbeat rhythm, chords that slap the earth

the pounding steps of feet and clapping hands

I sing you with a voice you've always known

hurled from the mouths of alleys, trains

from briar branches, winter trees

your secret stations and midnight moon

A wolfsong is my voice that pulled you into being

created you the day I put my feet upon the road

became a walking man, a man of song

I play you now like a violin, an instrument

that weeps, that bleeds

You are the score of pulsing dreams and carnivals

the music of forests wet and green

I sing you young forever

and free from rock and chains

gliding like a gull across the day and night

the borders of paradise and sky

You are my song

and I will sing you always

no matter where time ends.