Brief thoughts . . . and a poem . . . for a birthday.
(NOTE: If you are reading this post via email, click on the title to see the online version, so you can read the entire poems included here.)
Turning 71 is somewhat anti-climatic. When you reach a nice round birthday like 70, people send cards from all around the globe. Heck, you are even allowed to tell the world how wise you are. You’ve reached a milestone.
But birthdays that don’t end in 0 or 5 are often treated as lesser events. We should simply nod at the passage of time and move on. I get the sentiment. We can only gear up for big ones every so often, I tell myself. If every day is a big celebration . . . well, I’m not going down that philosophical road. Not on my birthday.
But I’ve always liked birthday celebrations. This year I’m using mine to explore parts of this wonderful world we live in. Let’s celebrate with a poem for the occasion by Billy Collins.
Once in a Dog’s Age
Just because a dog or a cat or even a hen
doesn’t know how old it is
doesn’t mean it’s not that old.
Every creature moves along
the treadmill of time at its own pace,
most insects hurrying along,
while the tortoise lumbers under its armor.
Many do not look their age
but sometimes you can tell—
take that ancient sparrow
barely moving along as if on crutches.
But what about this crow
on a fence post by the roadside?
No telling how old he is.
Today could be his birthday
for all we know, and who’s to say
that perching on a fence post
is not a fine way to celebrate a special day?
My next one’s still months away
but when it finally rolls up to the door,
I will remember that crow
of a certain age and join him
on another fence post down the road,
showing off my blue-black feathers,
my shiny head always swiveling
over a field of flowering potatoes
and under an immense silvery sky,
as one car comes and goes,
then another from the other direction.
More to come . . .
DJB
Once in a Dog’s Age from the book Water, Water: Poems.
Photo of an American Crow by Henry Burton in All About Birds. Photo of Giant Tortoise on Seychelles by Dan Maisey on Unsplash. I have been visiting Seychelles this past week and have marveled at these ancient giants in the wild.
MORE TO COME... 