October 11th

On your birth day You were met with a halo of hellos A flock of blue cards fluttered on the bedside The days flowed by like a mumuration of starlings Today girls from the red brick house Throw sticks to an old pit bull A student jogs along His lycra running shorts as tight's a drum skin In a side ward of the geriatric wing A patient wheezes into an oxygen mask His veins stand proud's the Ganges tributary At the harbour mouth, frisky as ocean lambs A pod of dolphins play A pregnant girl buys tins of reduced price beans The rain falls down like nobody's business And I hang my head in despair Like a wet umbrella dripping from a hook It is your birth day. You're not here to enjoy it.