Birthday Rants and Grouses

I
I stumble upon no profound realizations,
I hold out no improbable expectations;

it’s just another ordinary day -
come natural calamities or whatever may.

So I turn another year older -
this doesn’t make for earth-shattering news fodder.


II
Why celebrate birthdays?
Why with a cake?

Why the lighted candles –
why, for goodness sake?

Of celebrations, they are a perversion -
an exercise in utter humiliation.


III
Candles on the cake –
There are so many of them
I can’t see the cake.


IV
Happy birthday to you
Hell-on-earth day to you
Every worst day to you-ou
Happy birthday to you!


V
Dining and wining,
candle-lighting and birthday-cake cutting -
what exactly are you celebrating?

My expulsion from the womb so many years ago today -

or
my being one step closer to the grave?



18^th – 19^th March 2005