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Happy Birthday Poem
- written the morning of my 48th birthday
and how can it be
that we are just beginning
and not in the middle
but closer to the start
that we hold such hope and faith
when calamity the bass line
and catastrophe the chorus
that when we wake each morning
we reach not for gun and rum
but pen and heart and time
that the party just got started
like yesterday
was a dress rehearsal
thank you
the first one was nice
but the next always stronger
and we're not even halfway
and healing is our power
forgiveness is an ocean
and shrinking was an error
and dreaming was a gift
and never giving up
how can it be
we care more now
and love you more than ever
when once death was a space
the end was a destination
and black was not a dress
and sex was not a passport
but learning always sexy
just look at this tattoo we never had
and look at the geography
oh all the places we haven't seen
and all the shoes we never wore
the language unspoken
the science and the nature
the doors that we will open
paintings on the eyelids
this love, this life, my love
how we cannot eat it all
but we stuff our face with laughing
and drink in all the summer
and still stay up too late
and how can it be
we're just getting going
learning to dance
and sing our own tune
that this is just beginning
and change is a constant
and how can it be
that there is more to come
((c) Salena Godden / June 25th 2020, London, lockdown birthday)
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