Poem On His Birthday

POEM ON HIS BIRTHDAY

This morning I reflected
That today I am the same age as you were
When I was as much younger than you
As you are now older than me

This just goes to show
The kind of thing that happens
When you start calibrating
What you should be celebrating

So what’s to celebrate
What of worth then
Gathered from the years?

That it’s not what you see
It’s the way that you view it
It’s not what you do
It’s the why that you do it
It’s not what you’ve lived
But the way you lived through it
And that’s what really counts

That you should neither judge nor aggravate
The turmoil that surrounds you
And everything is already perfect
Whether you like it or not

Why rush around in pursuit of pleasure
When you could simply enjoy
The suffering you already have?

That there’s more to the I
Than meets death
And even if you’re dead important
You’re not important dead

Of course I forget most of this stuff
For pretty much of the time
But I wanted to make my birthday
A day to remember