Birthday

Number XX, but not X and not XXX

It’s my birthday,
number XX,
but not X
and not XXX.

There’s a long way
in between.

When it’s your birthday,
tell people!

Get those birthday wishes
fly upon their winds.

“Are you doing anything fun today?”
asked the counter attendant.

“Are you doing something fun?”
asked the dry cleaner.

“I don’t know.
I don’t know,”
I declared.

A birthday only comes
X, XX, or XXX
times in a life.

The older you get,
the less you have.

It’s my birthday.

Happy birthday, Pemba!

It was your birthday
yesterday,
last month,
some time ago.

Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to you, too!

A poem by Pemba Umoja