Happy 78th, Mom!

Posted March 15th, 2007 by Jen in poetry

Mom adds another year every ides of March, and here she is at 78! I caught her by a great old Juniper tree on our property that is about as much a character as she is. She said this particular tree “looks like it could be the backdrop for a horror movie.” Well, maybe at night it might look scary, but it’s one of my kids’ favorite little fort areas. For her birthday, we’ll spend the morning hiking around at Smith Rock, because it reminds her of Stone Mountain (where she lived for a bit and of which she has the fondest memories), and then enjoy some pumpkin pie with whipped cream.

I couldn’t find a poem she’d written about junipers, but here’s a lovely one about willows (because we grew up with a willow in our yard, not a juniper):

THE WILLOW TREE

When God made trees, so long ago,
The world was not yet full of woe.
But God in his foreknowledge knew,
And so He made the willow too.

There are trees so tall and straight and proud
They speak of courage strong and loud.
But there are moments, not a few –
For them, the willow weeps with you.

B.P. Daniel (1929 - )

And also, a birthday poem, which she wrote for herself in a way, because I’m giving her a birthday card with this poem inscribed inside! She may have forgotten that she wrote this…uh, probably not. She can forget what day it is but never a poem she’s written. She actually thought we forgot her birthday, because on March 14, she thought it was March 15.

May your birthday be:

Slow as molasses in January so you
have plenty of time to enjoy it,

Fast as an ostrich so you can cover
a lot of ground,

Sudden as a pheasant flushed to
wake you up,

Brilliant as a herd of flamingoes
to please your eye,

Chipper as a sparrow to give you
hardihood,

Wild as a wild goose to give you
adventure,

Beautiful as a swan to give you
serenity,

Strong as an eagle so you can reach
new heights,

Exotic as a parrot to show you the
strange unknown,

Wise as an owl with listening ears,

Happy as a lark singing,

Haunting as a whippoorwill so you
will remember it