Lewisburg, September 2008

Dear Irving,

A very Happy Birthday, on which day I have the opportunity of thanking you for your self, for the beauty and depth of your poetry, and for your great kindness to me when I started my new life here in the US. I would not be the same person without having met you that evening, long ago, at the 92nd Street Y; thereafter our conversations moved delightfully from your sober office at Buffalo to enchanted places among friends and family.  I wish you all the best for your birthday.

With great affection and warmest greetings,

Harold