'Poem for David's Forty-fifth Birthday'

For your birthday I could ululate
(don't worry, I will spare you that)
Or on your virtues I might perorate
...even improvise a little scat.

To dance for you, an old soft shoe,
might show you that I think you're keen,
but afterwards my joints might rue,
a too strenuous assertion of esteem.

Now, as I peruse a favorite book,
and ponder on what I should do,
and put it in the bookcase: "Look!
I haven't one copy, but two!"

So here it is,

Aging, but full of wit and wisdom,
-and a little scratch or two,
Come to think of it, this book
is... well...an awful lot like you.

-jorge999