Nine Things That Happened In Dreaming and Waking Within Twenty Four Hours of the Last Day of My Fiftieth Year
I left everything in a hotel room on my way to another
An eight year old boy rode his new bike with no training wheels
On the street I caught a blue pouch thrown by a stranger
I knew by how it settled into my palm it was a string of rosary beads
A butterfly fighting the gentle morning breeze on the hill again
and again to land on a dead squirrel and feed
Two early fireflies high in the ash tree’s night canopy
where earlier in the day hundreds of white flowers
Floated down, tiny parachutes onto new grass
The moon sparking off a tin roof like a match
My wife lay her head on my chest to listen to my heart
as I awoke from a dream of laughing
Translations from the English 
happy birthday to you!
Many thanks, C. There was nothing deflating about it at all…
Beautiful, Jeff. And I also wish you a Happy, Happy Birthday.
Thanks Len! Happy to be here for another one. Gratitude seems to come so much easier these days. It was a very happy day.
May all the days to follow be the same.
So powerfully elegant! Happy 17th Birthday (Three tines over!), Jeff. 🙂
Ron
Heh heh. I am sure that I would not like to be 17 again, nor 34 for that matter. This age seems to work at the moment!
Nice nine things to notice. Happy for you.
Happy that you have taken time from your trip to make this virtual visit…
Happy birthday and fifty more, please.
Thanks Ann!
Happy Birthday! Lovely post!
Thanks and thanks!
Happy birthday. -Jamie
Thanks Jamie!
Happy birthday! Great starting point for the next round of years.
Thanks! It feels like that.
Happy Belated Birthday, Jeff! (Geezer brain forgot to look at the calendar.)
Thank you, sir!
I’m late to the plate, but Happy Birthday, Jeff! May your next fifty years be full of floating flowers and laughter!
Yes, but look out for those things floating in the punch bowl. *g*
” A butterfly fighting the gentle morning breeze on the hill again
and again to land on a dead squirrel and feed” I love the slight Volta there with the alteration from lovely and ethereal, to dissonance and reality. I love the wording all throughout but the twist in those lines stood out
Beautiful ending (which was a beginning). Happy belated, J.
Thank you, HW.
I always love reading this one. And YOU will have another birthday soon!
Thank you, Jessa. And yes, it is true that another birthday is just around the bend. Which means another strange birthday poem, probably…