Happy Birthday
Happy Birthday, I love you
My first thought when I woke today
Happy Birthday, I remember you
A story I wrote
with the stress lines on my forehead
Happy Birthday and I miss you
Miss your laugh
And your voice on a Tuesday
And it breaks my heart every time I remember
that you’re no longer here
Happy Birthday while I grieve you
Or the memory of the you I once knew
But memories are so fickle
Always changing or breaking
Like my heart when I lost you.
And I remember your funeral
The one you could not attend
The one where I stood by an oak tree
and cried over you.
Happy Birthday I forgive you
I forgive you for leaving
Though I know you never asked me to
And a part of myself died with you
And it’s funny how birthdays
remind us of death
As if the moment you light a candle
reminds you that it will inevitably burn out.
And forever seems such a fairytale
Because no candles burn forever
And every poem has a final stanza
So I suppose this is my final stanza
The final one for you anyway
Because the truth is you’re not dead
You just killed me when you let me go
And I know I keep saying I’ve moved on
And maybe it’s true
But Happy Birthday, I’ll never forget you.