Over the decades of birthdays past
life has grown complex. You think,
when you are young, that you will reach
a point of dreams come true, maybe
by the old age of forty or so,
and coast to the end from there,
fulfilled and at ease.
Then reality happens, revealing a world
that’s nothing you had supposed
or wanted it to be. Life, you discover,
can be tough, it’s lessons hard, its pathways
often rocky. But, oh, the treasures
it bestows along the way! The rays of truth
and wisdom, the touches from loving hands,
the songs of Silent Teachers singing
through the seasons, smiles of strangers
and children, the stream of companions
and friends, and always, the infinite
sky, painting the unfathomable Yes
to remind you, despite any evidence
to the contrary, that you never truly
left home and have always been
known and dearly loved. And so, arriving
at this birthday present, my 78th, I celebrate
sunlight spilling through green branches
onto pink azalea blossoms and give thanks
for another day of waking
on this wondrous and challenging globe.