MARGARET ATWOOD'S LIGHT
Birthday Nov. 18

We waited to hear you read
for over a generous hour
from a short cloudless river
at a light distance at the Charles
in Cambridge by a bird chorus
under the misty November rain
from an academic room
in an old brick building
making your words invulnerable
yet grafted in a moonlit time
to your singular wonder of words
which shine outside the waters
by a dizzy night sky of birds
in a illumined vineyard
reflected from your speech
prompting me
as we walk not to be late
under red  and orange leaves
over puddles to arrive early
in reaching for immortality.