I Feel Like Celebrating Your Birthday

I feel like celebrating your birthday
popping corks and pouring champagne
lighting candles
tying a bow around the world

you look on in humble protest—
too much, you say
(you smile a little)
much too lavish the attention paid
to that insignificant day!

not so, not so—
you overlook
the effect of that one, lowly day
on all the others!
why, because of that “insignificant” day
I have a high, high memory:

I ran up and down the hill
one fine Yesterday
chasing renegade frisbees
laughing and huffing and
squinting into the sun
to see your face
to catch a glimpse of your smile
to see if your eyes were looking for me

and Today—
I light a candle
sit down contented among pillows
and let my soul unfurl over the telephone lines
like one of Grandma’s beloved Peace rose petals
your voice brings forth a fragrance
from somewhere inside
like the first rose of the season
the one that captures every eye
causes every head to turn
every nose to bend near
you remembered me

suddenly, I talk about Tomorrow in a different tone
with a passion I’d grown used to doing without
and all those tomorrows deemed “special” by most—
but niggardly as Scrooges to me—
become exactly what they claimed to be all along
I, too, like others, may send a Valentine this year
write secrets and send them out into the sun
with a stamp
on the 4th of July I will watch fireworks
wide-mouthed as a child
astonished at each glittering pattern
all those starry pigments
their absence burning in my eyes
the way the absence of your touch
burns my skin
at Thanksgiving dinner I will bow my head
give thanks for faith, family, health, friends
and I will have to add a new category
for you
staring at the colored lights of the Christmas tree
I will be reminded of fireworks
of love—and its absence
and strangely I will seem to know more of God’s gift
than in any Christmas past—
and somehow I will find
tumbling into my mind
more reasons to dream about the New Year
than I used to invent

so
I celebrate
your birthday
for on that common day
known only to a few
God not only gave you to the world—
but blessed every day of
my life