Dear Tom and Ray:

For his 17th birthday, in honor of him being able to drive at last, I wrote one of my friends a poem that I think you guys would appreciate:

Ode to My Nissan Stanza
by Eric Cohen

If an ordinary day isn't much of a party
Then today is an extravaganza,
For here is the day I can legally drive
My beloved Nissan Stanza.

Your gauges are beautiful, so easy to read;
Your knobs are so smooth to my touch.
And my left leg overflows with elation
As I stomp it down on your clutch.

While some have the nerve to call your shape boxy,
I, for one, find your squared-off look foxy.

When I call for the brakes, you stop on a dime,
But your engine makes me sing verses...
As I revel in the marvelous cacophony
Of a hundred and thirty-eight horses.

Your windows are power, as are your locks.
Your heater beats charcoal briquettes,
Your radio plays Streisand, Puff Daddy and Hanson...
Thank God it can also play cassettes.

You might not be a Mustang, or a Chevy Corvette,
But just having you has my soul tremblin'...
If not for your presence, I'd be sputtering around
In a rusted 23-year-old Gremlin.