Poems for Birthdays
A birthday is more than a date on a calendar — it's a celebration of a person's unique place in the world. These poems go beyond 'happy birthday' to honor the milestones, memories, and meaning of another year lived.
Birthday celebrations are one of the most universal human traditions, found across virtually every culture. They mark personal milestones and offer an opportunity to reflect on growth, gratitude, and the people who matter most.
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Birthdays Poems
First Morning
FeaturedI woke before you and did nothing about it. The radiator ticked. Your shoulder rose and fell.
The Fog Inside
It isn't sadness. Sadness has a shape— you can walk around it, point to it, explain it to a doctor
Good Dog
You have never asked me how my day was and yet you are the only one
My Mother's Hands
My mother's hands could find a fever through a forehead, could tell a melon's ripeness
The Second Shelf
FeaturedThere's a word for the way your coffee cup still sits on the second shelf where no one else would put it—
Psalm for the Doubters
Blessed are those who aren't sure. Blessed are those who came to church for the singing, stayed for the quiet,
The Chair by the Window
My father's chair still faces the window where he watched the street as if expecting a delivery
What the Body Remembers
My hands still set the table for two. Not every night—just Thursdays, when my hands forget
The Ones Who Stay
You are not the friend who arrives with flowers. You are the friend
Grace
I don't know what I believe but I know the feeling when the light hits the kitchen table
After the Funeral
The strangest part is the ordinary: how the fridge still hums its one note, how the bills arrive
The Workshop
My father's workshop smelled of pine and something electrical— the ozone ghost of a drill