Safe as milk
on a Friday afternoon;
at last
poured out,
at last fluid again.

No use crying.
No accidents for you —
not a spill.

Your guitarist once said
that working with you was
like tossing a deck of cards in the air,
then taking a snapshot
that everyone learned to reproduce.

I hope
it’s true that the cards
were tossed and thus dealt
for you in no haphazard way.

And the cage
you’ve lived in —

it is finally bigger tonight.

Safe as milk
poured out into
a favorite glass,

and we can drink that.
That’s good.

— for Don Van Vliet (Captain Beefheart), 12/17/2010