Happy birthday to you

​​Daylight has broken on this frigid morn’
November again nearing the infamous end
of daylight savings and shorter eves
already his world is bombarded by good wishes. 
 
Old friends whose wrinkles have multiplied
covers in grayish hats of thinning hair. 
so far away from his current climes
the sound of their voices has faded. 
 
Other chance encounters in the midst
of lost vastnesses barely greeted
on a pathway to splendid scenery
between a song and a brief word to the stranger. 
 
And then, the most valued of all
from piercing blues and ebony coiffe
two words that rock the universe
to give it meaning forevermore. 

The author is Fabrice Poussin. Poussin’s poetry and photography work has appeared in hundreds of magazines worldwide. Most recently, his collections In Absentia, If I Had a Gun, Half Past Life, and The Temptation of Silence were published in 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024, by Silver Bow Publishing.

Image:  Ethan Hoover / Unsplash