18.6 years after she introduced me to Ayn Rand, after we both experienced failed marriages,
I re-introduced myself to her with this poem -- after she replied on the phone, "I don't know what to say!"


What To Say

It may not be normal
when friends stay while you're away
and relations once formal
survive, mellowed, for another day.

But thoughtful convictions held unnaturally close
form a bond of constancy over the years;
life's changes can make you head for "morose,"
while memory helps serve to hold back the tears.

Reunions for some are like two one-act shows
on the same stage, folks, the braggarts compete;
but different, remember, for each who knows
they're moments of something not yet complete.

I can't stand to pass up a chance to grow
at a speed unsurpassed any other way --
Your chance to reap what you surely did sow
might make tomorrow an easier day.

No time to waste, but plenty to spend
learning wisdom, perspective, finesse;
young yet and tough, not at wit's end,
we each need only say "yes."