what to give you,
gift of my life?
I’m still learning
to receive you,
who showed up,
sunshine and beauty and hope,
blasting my trajectory
ever upward and outward
rounding my life’s arc
sending me soaring—
and you still are
I celebrate you
strangely sometimes, I know:
sighs for balloons
sarcasm for streamers
silencing the adoration
that sings in me
these misfires speak
more of me than you
and the flame of my love
cannot, will not, be doused
what to give?
no fitting tribute I can buy
nor my unsure hands make
but I can make you sure
of one certainty:
on this day of your birth,
great love of my life,
know, today of all days:
I am so, so very glad
you were born
today I light a candle
to mark a special day
when a wish came true
long before I knew
to wish for you
August 2009
