November Tanka: Birthday

water sign

(Tarot Queen of Cups) –

am I calm lake

vast moody ocean

or deep river?

13/11/25

three-day birthday

feasting with this kind friend 

and that, and those …

last night’s tea just a snack,

pyjama day today

14/11/25

‘eighty-six 

going on seventy-two,’

says my doctor

and, ‘I'm glad you’ve still got 

your brain. I see so many …’

14/11/25

gifts: flowers 

from her garden

food she grew

one  birthday candle

hours of easy talk

17/11/25

by the third day

I've already stopped

writing daily

in my new diary 

(birthday gift kindly meant)

*

now I inscribe

my journal's blank pages

with new tanka –

poetry is my way

to fill my days, my life

20/11/25

dark moon

in the month and sign

of my birth –

not surprising I’m loath

to tidy my house

21/11/25

What Delights Me

 

Turning 85, as I am doing now,

causes me not only delight, but

a probably quite unjustified pride.

After all, I have rarely given myself 

enough exercise or sleep. Further,

I’ve been overweight for decades.

So it’s all down to luck, and genes.

Thank you, long-lived ancestors —

albeit I note, with yet more pride,

I’ve now outlived you all (all I know).

But being still alive delights me, also,

for many other reasons. Life itself, despite 

its many ills and trials, is a source of joy. 

There are still roses growing, willows

by streams, and river red gums too,

and hoop pines piercing the high sky.

There are sunsets, there are clouds

that look like angels, and mountains

which dent the horizon with bending edges

resembling resting warriors, or dragons.

There are friends, and memories of past

friends, including many cats and dogs. 

Grievous loss — yet they are not lost.

There are books and paintings and music,

movies and laughter, my sons well grown …

I am blessed. I am richly blessed. I know it.

My response to my own prompt for Friday Writings #153 at Poets and Storytellers United. (Written 11 Nov. '24, the day before my 85th birthday.)