Ditto, Tom. This poet is never cheaply sentimental, but often sticks his neck out by expressing sincere emotion. He routinely does what so many are afraid to do, or
can't do without going over the top, conveying (gasp!) unabashedly warm affection for friends or family. That takes remarkable integrity in a poetry world whose all-too-often mindless, Pavlovian response to anything warm in poetry is to sneer and label it sentimental. It's precisely this risk-taking that makes this poet one of my all-time favorites.
Oh, yeah, the poem.
I like it too, for reasons others have covered. I'll just add that I enjoy the subtle contradictions in the last line: the "old" friend being "younger", and the idea that he's younger than he was in the past. (Made me think of the Dylan song, too.) Of course what he really means is that 43 doesn't look so old any more, but the clever way of saying it makes it that much more memorable.
[This message has been edited by Rose Kelleher (edited December 01, 2004).]