A poem by M Hofmann in NYRB, to the memory of Charles Simic :
'I wrote an exuberant—
no, really!—e-mail yesterday
to my kind and illustrious
(or at least respectable) friends
who put in a good word for me
with the authorities:
my Green Card has come.
The e-mail to you
was said to be undeliverable;'
Read the rest of the poem here.
I remember when I thanked my friends and acquaintances who put in a good word for me with the authorities.
I believe they are all still alive, but I lost track of a few of them.