enjoy their birthday —
looking forward
to that special day,
opening the gifts with
sparkles in their eyes,
unwrapping the covers with
impatient hands,
cutting the cake with
an innocent smile, and
savouring the birthday meal with
joy and laughter.
The whole experience is a
renewed novelty, fresh to them.
My birthday has become rather prosaic.
Even trying something new each year,
it’s still just the day I was born.
Repeating and reminding this to myself
each year feels like reciting a chant.
I can now let it pass in silence without
gifts, wishes, and celebration —
for I have memories to
revisit old novelties.