To me

I have a birthday coming up later this month
It comes around the same time every year
my only concern is for the one that doesn’t come around.

Years ago, birthdays took forever to arrive and were something to look forward to
Now they appear at an ever-increasing rate and although I am grateful as they show
I just wish there weren’t so many of them.

Birthdays are supposed to have different representations
At sixteen in England, it is the age of consent
At sixteen in America it is legal to drive
At eighteen in America, it is graduation day and the day to vote
and the age of consent.
In the good old days, it was the age of the draft
At twenty-one it is legal to drink
At forty men go through mid-life crisis and buy a sports car.
I still have mine.

The fact that birthdays come around so regularly makes us comfortable
Until we grow old when we begin to wonder
Will I see the next one….