Happy Birthday my Mother
you'd have been ninety today
but forever instead
eighty-seven you'll stay
The time of your passing
though sad was still right
but I still shed a tear
on occasion at night
But on fifth of September
remembering clear
I see that you're smiling
so Happy Birthday, my dear
Went to a birthday party
in Surrey, Saturday night
took us a while to get there
but that was quite alright
Loud cheers when we got there
the celebrations had begun
so we hurried there to join them
so we'd not miss out the fun
And we found the cheers had purpose
for the birthday and for now
as my brother had got married
on his birthday with a vow
Back in the fifties
and born to the sun
a Thursday's child
knew he had begun
Growing up in the sixties
never sun to eschew
this Thursday's child
was still nearly new
And then cam the seventies
formative years
a teen to his twenties
with joy and yes, tears
On a February day
thirty-four years ago
I remember quite well
the remains of the snow
as on a bright morning
I walked by the sea
so proud of the fact
of no longer ‘to be’
But actually now
a father at last
all those long months of waiting
now finally past
For there on that day
to Sally and me
the gift of a daughter
with our Emily
Past sixty-one summers
I was born to the sun
a new Thursday’s child
to the world then had come
At the end of the fifties
the Rock n Roll years
a little boy blue
as the sixties they neared
At the beach hut on my birthday
(I was sixty yesterday)
And whilst not exactly sunny
It was perfect anyway
The sea was like a diamond
Flat calm, a lovely sight
Mirror-like, reflecting
the sky above so bright
A day out in Lewes
with the girls in the sun
Browsing antique shops
and all having fun
Here for Sal’s sixtieth
Celebrations start here
Two months for us all
in this special year
It’s becoming a tradition
as this is the second year
February seventeen
and a walk to have a beer
We’re spoilt for choice in Sussex
with the hills to take us there
So here’s to many more years still
this special day to share
Heading down Fulking Escarpment
with a piper to herald the way
The entourage headed down to the pub
on this lovely February day
The view of the Weald was breathtaking
as it always is in the sun
The company laughing and happy
and having plenty of fun
It’s been a full year, since you first joined our clan
and hid yourself there inside my bag.
You didn’t quite know what to make of us,
all coo-ey, and huggy, and making a fuss.
Our kitchen floor had you splayed on all fours
’til we brought you upstairs to the carpeted floor.
“Pillars of Creation”: Hubble photo of interstellar gas and dust in the Eagle Nebula, some 6,500-7,000 light years from Earth where stars are born
I asked for the superpower of “Folding” for my birthday.
It cuts out the middle man:
Gimme a calendar with tricky bits, I said.
I’d fold weeks, months, years, centuries together,
jump to any time, past or future.
The first would be hanging with
the first human band to walk out of Africa .
We have a birthday in our house today
it makes us feel quite old
For nine and twenty years ago
when it was pretty cold
a daughter was our first born child
in Brighton in the snow
Back in the last century
It seems so long ago
Poet's Corner 