Tuesday 19 January 2016

Birthday












Spread smooth, the sand,
the beach, becomes a canvas
on which the father
makes his mark –
to celebrate the proud, the prized
first birthday of his son.

The sand-inscription reads
‘Happy 1st Birthday Hugo’.
A glad and golden greeting,
a message to be treasured
on this still September morning
of the calm North Cornish coast.

And Hugo? He will know nothing
of this private, public moment
for a few years yet.
For us, observers, the words
will soon be washed,
though never wished, away.

Their sight and sound will echo
down the days, the weeks, the months,
foretelling and foreseeing little,
even fading, yet offering Hugo,
year on year,
an unwritten birthday greeting
he now will always know.


December 2015
.

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