Home » Poems » Caren Krutsinger » Happy Birthday To You

Happy Birthday To You

Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you!
Relatives are coming out of my ears.
I am a person who likes solitude, and quiet time,
Not to mention a nap when I have not slept the night before
Thanks to acid reflux, my not-so-best-friend.

I reluctantly take my gifts home, some of them
Are so obscure, I have no idea what they are supposed
To do, or be.  I reluctantly throw them all together in a
Heap in my junk closet, which gets cleaned out twice
A decade or so.  The closet is packed rather tightly.

I push it all in there, throwing some of the stuff to the top,
Listening to it land somewhere in the middle. Sometimes
I hear a tiny satisfying crackling sound.  I wish a fire would 
Start in this closet, but it does not.

So I smile imagining my children having to pull it all out and
Figure out what it does or even what it is, after I am gone.

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M. L. Kiser

Date: 12/2/2018 7:32:00 PM

Do you think that we could change society's idea of what a gift is? People are raised to believe that we must buy something rather than to do something when sometimes a simple house cleaning or a freshly washed car would be just as good as something bought. I think everyone has this problem.

Caren Krutsinger
Date: 12/2/2018 10:15:00 PM

I think the best gift is ONE hour spent with a child or children while their parent/parents nap. I give this gift often, and sometimes extend it to two hours.