Birthday Invitations
One
Your presence is requested at
A moment of transcendence.
The mystery of turning one
Requires your attendance.
You will accomplish something more
Than favor, fun, or duty
By witnessing the passage of
A moment of great beauty.
Two
Your presence is requested at
A moment of transcendence.
The mystery of turning two
Requires your attendance.
You will witness something more
Than monsters going wild:
The turning of a sweet young soul
From infant into child.
Fifty
Your presence is requested at
A moment of transcendence.
The mystery of fifty years
Requires your attendance.
We will accomplish something more
Than managing to dine:
We'll mark the turning of a soul
From juice to good red wine.
Eighty
Your presence is requested at
A moment of transcendence.
The mystery of eighty years
Requires your attendance.
We will manage something more
Than food and cake and brew:
We'll mark the turning of a soul
Towards islands rich and new.
Birthdays Are an Annual Excuse
Birthdays are an annual excuse,
A way of saying things we ought to say.
Relatively few can sing their love
Unless they do it on some special day.
Hearts are shy, and words of little use.
But now I want to tell you that I love you,
Open up my heart and say the things
Siblings seldom say to one another
'Cause of the embarrassment it brings.
However long we live, I'll be with you.
Birthdays Are the Tolling of
Birthdays are the tolling of
A bell that marks the coming of
A time of festive joy and love,
A time to treasure life and love.
So come and celebrate with me
The circumstance that makes me, me:
The moment when I came to be,
And what I now have come to be.
Birthdays Do Not End with Death
Birthdays do not end with death,
But last as long as love,
A maelstrom of memories
That grace and honor move.
And so we celebrate your day
By visiting your grave,
A place that you have left long since,
But is all that we have.
Dear spirit, come and join us here,
Your loved ones by your stone!
Come sweep across the barrier
To claim us as your own!
Happy birthday, dearest one!
Oh, happy, happy day!
Not even the most bitter night
Can take this joy away! |
Happy Birthday Late, and Also Ever
Happy birthday late, and also ever!
All your days be blessed with love and peace!
Please forgive my lateness, and endeavor
Patiently to grant me my release.
Years come and go; our friendship will increase.
Birthdays are like maps or clocks or signs:
In them we see an order more profound.
Reality lies deeper than our lines:
Time ticks as quarks and galaxies go round.
However arbitrary they may be,
Dates mark measures in the march of fate;
And since I'd like to see your destiny,
You can be sure next year I won't be late!
Quince Is the Sunrise of a Woman
Quince is the sunrise of a woman
Underneath the canopy of love.
In her again life's gift of youthful grace
New dawns across an old, familiar face,
Chanting in the wind through which we move,
Ecstatic at the joy of being human.
Sixty Years Is Cause Enough to Sing
Sixty years is cause enough to sing
In celebration of a gentle life!
Xxxxx's to the mother and the wife,
Taking pleasure in what love might bring,
Yearning for what's worth the treasuring.
Sweet Sixteens Are Harbingers of Grace
Sweet Sixteens are harbingers of grace,
Intimations of a childhood's end,
Xxx's on the envelope of time.
This invitation I to you extend,
Easy in the rush of time and place,
Expecting in the moment's silver chime
No more than just a glimpse of life to come.
What Unsuspecting Miracle
What unsuspecting miracle
Has passed through his first year?
Has circled round the smiling sun
To sit before us here?
What angel changeling changed our lives
Since he arrived from heaven,
Bringing home the ballyhoo
That rounds the gates of Eden?
What bright eternal soul have we
Since taken into time?
Have welcomed into weeks and days
Still stunned by the sublime?
What love has love brought to this world?
What joy has pleasure wrought?
For this, our celebration, sings
Of far more than we sought.
Candles Are a Gift of Light
Candles are a gift of light,
A tiny sun, a bit of star.
No other dancer in the night
Dances with such sheer delight,
Little souls serene and bright,
Each a glimpse of what we are
Shining innocent and pure. |
