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Subject: BIRTHDAYS
Matches Found: 333

UPDATE command denied to user 'poetryex_users'@'localhost' for table `poetryex_poems`.`subcnt` 102 TODAY, by RON PADGETT    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: If wystan auden were alive today
Subject(s): Auden, Wystan Hugh (1907-1973); Birthdays


30TH BIRTHDAY, by ALICE NOTLEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: May I never be afraid
Subject(s): Birthdays; Self; Conduct Of Life


47TH BIRTHDAY, by ALICE NOTLEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Exactly the color / of a grey tear the sky is still
Subject(s): Birthdays; Self; France


A BIRTHDAY, by ROBERT CREELEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis         Recitation by Author     Poet's Biography
First Line: Shall we address it
Subject(s): Birthdays


A BIRTHDAY, by WINIFRED LUCAS    Poem Text                    
First Line: Light wakes you with no gentler kiss
Last Line: Is fête to spare.
Alternate Author Name(s): Le Bailly, Mrs.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Children; Youth; Childhood


A BIRTHDAY, by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My heart is like a singing bird
Last Line: Is come, my love is come to me.
Alternate Author Name(s): Alleyne, Ellen; Rossetti, Christina
Subject(s): Birthdays; Happiness; Love; Love - Marital; Poetry & Poets; Joy; Delight; Wedded Love; Marriage - Love


A BIRTHDAY, by CHARLES TENNYSON TURNER    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The summer tide has brought my natal hour
Last Line: Scarce disentwined by keen philosophy!
Subject(s): Birthdays


A BIRTHDAY, by LOUIS UNTERMEYER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Again I come / with my handful of song
Last Line: You who have soothed me with passion and roused me with passionate peace.
Alternate Author Name(s): Lewis, Michael
Subject(s): Aging; Birthdays; Happiness; Singing & Singers; Time; Joy; Delight


A BIRTHDAY CARD, by TED KOOSER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: In her eighties now, and weak and ill
Subject(s): Aunts; Sickness; Birthdays; Illness


A BIRTHDAY GREETING, by M. E. F.    Poem Text                    
First Line: What shall I wish thee for the coming year?
Last Line: And, afterwards, the peace of victory won!
Subject(s): Birthdays


A BIRTHDAY PRESENT, by SYLVIA PLATH    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: What is this, behind this veil, is it ugly, is it beautiful?
Alternate Author Name(s): Hughes, Ted, Mrs.
Subject(s): Death; Birthdays; Dead, The


A BIRTHDAY SALUTATION TO HELEN KELLER, by ELIOT WHITE    Poem Text                    
First Line: So runs the proverb of the long ago
Last Line: And all the cherished beauty of your life.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Keller, Helen (1880-1968); Life


A BIRTHDAY SONG, by SIDNEY LANIER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: For ever wave, for ever float and shine
Last Line: Montgomery, alabama, october, 1866.
Subject(s): Birthdays


A BIRTHDAY SONG, by GRACE DENIO LITCHFIELD    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Out and away, my song
Last Line: Out and away!
Subject(s): Birthdays; Happiness; Parties; Joy; Delight


A BIRTHDAY TRIBUTE; TO J.F. CLARKE, by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Who is the shepherd sent to lead
Last Line: And sigh more love than ours can tell.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Clarke, James Freeman (1810-1888)


A BIRTHDAY WISH, by MARY LYDIA CARPENTER    Poem Text                    
First Line: As thy ship sails o'er life's ocean
Last Line: In the harbor of thy home.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Wishes


A BIRTHDAY WISH, by DOROTHY NELL MCDONALD    Poem Text                    
First Line: I do not wish you joy without a sorrow
Last Line: And god's sweet peace when every day is done.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Wishes


A DOUBLE-BARRELLED SONNET TO MARK TWAIN: 1. FIRST BARREL, by WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS    Poem Text     Poem Explanation                 Poet's Biography
First Line: The man whose birthday we renown tonight
Last Line: Gainsay him the glory of being sixty-seven.
Alternate Author Name(s): Howells, W. D.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Twain, Mark (samuel Langhorne Clemens)


A DREAM OF FIFTY, by GREGORY ORR    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Among all the losses, this was immense
Last Line: Wind pressing leaves against a grid of fence.
Subject(s): Aging; Birthdays; Dreams; Future; Life; Loss; Nightmares


A HAPPY BIRTHDAY, by TED KOOSER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: This evening, I sat by an open window
Subject(s): Birthdays


A JOYFUL SONG OF FIVE, by KATHERINE MANSFIELD    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Come, let us all sing very high
Last Line: Because to-day you're five.
Alternate Author Name(s): Murry, John Middleton, Mrs.; Beauchamp, Kathleen
Subject(s): Birthdays


A MOTHER'S BIRTHDAY, by HENRY VAN DYKE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Lord jesus, thou hast known
Last Line: Bless her in earth and heaven.
Alternate Author Name(s): Civis Americanus
Subject(s): Birthdays; Mothers; Religion; Theology


A NINTH BIRTHDAY, by ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Three times thrice hath winter's rough white wing
Last Line: Three times thrice.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Love; Roundels; Winter


A SEPTEMBER BIRTHDAY IN BRITTANY, by ABBIE FARWELL BROWN    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Who counts the foolish years?
Last Line: Admiring still how sweetly you become them?
Subject(s): Birthdays; Brittany, France


A SHORT SONG OF CONGRATULATION, by SAMUEL JOHNSON (1709-1784)    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Long-expected one and twenty
Last Line: You can hang or drown at last!
Alternate Author Name(s): Johnson, Dr.
Variant Title(s): One And Twenty
Subject(s): Birthdays; Inheritance & Succession; Labor & Laborers; Marriage; Wealth; Youth; Heirs; Work; Workers; Weddings; Husbands; Wives; Riches; Fortunes


ABOUT MY BIRTHDAY, by MARIE PONSOT    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Subject(s): Birthdays


ABSENCE, by NATHANIEL PARKER WILLIS    Poem Text     Poem Explanation                 Poet's Biography
First Line: My birthday! O beloved mother!
Last Line: And be no more, as now, in a strange land, forlorn.
Variant Title(s): Birthday Verses
Subject(s): Birthdays; Mothers


ACT YOUR AGE, by BRUCE LANSKY    Poem Source                    
First Line: Happy birthday to you
Last Line: But you act like you're two
Subject(s): Birthdays


AN INVITATION TO CELEBRATE THE BIRTHDAY OF THE POET MOORE, by JOHN CHALK CLARIS    Poem Text                    
First Line: O come and hail the day
Last Line: And bind more closely friend to friend.
Alternate Author Name(s): Brooke, Arthur
Subject(s): Birthdays; Moore, Thomas (1779-1852); Poetry & Poets


AND YOU ON MY BIRTHDAY, by SHIRLEY KAUFMAN    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
Last Line: Prayer %on a grain of rice
Subject(s): Arabs; Birthdays; Jerusalem; Jews; Middle East - Conflicts; Palestine


APPROACHING 50, by CHARLES HARPER WEBB    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I never thought we'd meet. Now here he is
Last Line: Binoculars, maybe I'll see in the far distance %100, walking steadily toward me
Variant Title(s): Approaching 4
Subject(s): Aging; Birthdays


APRIL FOOL BIRTHDAY POEM FOR GRANDPA, by DIANE DI PRIMA    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Today is your / birthday and I have tried
Subject(s): Birthdays; Ethnic Groups - United States; Grandparents; Minorities - United States; United States - Race Relations; Grandmothers; Grandfathers; Great Grandfathers; Great Grandmothers


APRIL FOOL BIRTHDAY POEM FOR GRANDPA, by DIANE DI PRIMA    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Today is your %birthday and I have tried
Last Line: And not be ashamed
Subject(s): Birthdays; Ethnic Groups - United States; Grandparents; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


APRIL FOOL POEM FOR GRANDPA, by DIANE DI PRIMA    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Today is yout
Subject(s): Birthdays; Grandparents; Grandmothers; Grandfathers; Great Grandfathers; Great Grandmothers


AS THE GREEK'S SIGNAL FLAME, by WALT WHITMAN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: As the greek's signal flame, by antique records told
Last Line: Lift high a kindled brand for thee, old poet.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Whittier, John Greenleaf (1807-1892)


BEAUTIFUL TWENTY-SECOND, by JULIA A. MOORE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The people in this nation
Last Line: Columbia's noblest son.
Alternate Author Name(s): Sweet Singer Of Michigan
Subject(s): Birthdays


BEC'S BIRTHDAY, by JONATHAN SWIFT    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: This day, dear bec, is thy nativity
Last Line: Where there will be no cares to fright her
Subject(s): Birthdays


BELATED BIRTHDAY, by SALLY MCMILLIN FAIRCHILD    Poem Source                    
First Line: This happy little angel
Last Line: Just pretend it's me!
Subject(s): Birthdays


BIRTHDAY, by AILEEN FISHER    Poem Source                    
First Line: The next best thing to christmas
Last Line: And a birthday cake and all
Subject(s): Birthdays


BIRTHDAY, by JAMES HARRISON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The masques of dream - monk in his
Last Line: Thirty-ninth skin.
Alternate Author Name(s): Harrison, Jim
Subject(s): Aging; Birthdays


BIRTHDAY, by MARGARET HILLERT    Poem Source                    
First Line: A birthday is a special thing
Last Line: To dream about when it is done
Subject(s): Birthdays


BIRTHDAY (AUTOBIOGRAPHY), by ROBINSON JEFFERS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Seventy years ago my mother labored to bear me,
Last Line: Swim in my blood and distort my thought but the old man's welcome
Subject(s): Birthdays; Self; Parents; Parenthood


BIRTHDAY ADVICE, by BRUCE LANSKY    Poem Source                    
First Line: Today on your birthday
Last Line: Acting just like your dad
Subject(s): Birthdays


BIRTHDAY AT WESLEYAN, MIDDLETOWN, by JOHN PEPPER CLARK    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Days fall about me, dead leaves
Last Line: Decaying from my roots
Alternate Author Name(s): Clark-bekederemo, J. P.; Clark, J. P.
Subject(s): Birthdays


BIRTHDAY CAKE, by HAYDEN CARRUTH    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: For breakfast I have eaten the last of your birthday cake that you
Last Line: Will be full of flowers and birds.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Cakes; Love - Age Differences; Man-woman Relationships; Male-female Relations


BIRTHDAY CAKE, by AILEEN FISHER    Poem Source                    
First Line: If little mice have birthdays
Last Line: I bet a birthday cheese-cake %would please them most of all
Subject(s): Birthdays; Mice


BIRTHDAY CARD FOR A PSYCHIATRIST, by MONA VAN DUYN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Your friends come fondly to your living room
Last Line: To join us in this neurotic enterprise
Subject(s): Birthdays


BIRTHDAY CHILD, by ROSE FYLEMAN    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Everything's been different
Last Line: To be a birthday child?
Subject(s): Birthdays


BIRTHDAY GHAZAL, by KATHLEENE K. WEST    Poem Source                    
First Line: I will speak of menopause as I'm at the age
Last Line: At fifty - ! 'mad, bad and dangerous to know!'
Subject(s): Birthdays


BIRTHDAY GIFTS, by ADELAIDE ANNE PROCTER    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Why do you look sad, my minnie?
Last Line: How to give her all the rest.
Alternate Author Name(s): Berwick, Mary
Subject(s): Birthdays; Children; Gifts & Giving; Jesus Christ; Love; Childhood


BIRTHDAY GREETING, by JULIA CAROLINE RIPLEY DORR    Poem Source         Poet Analysis            
First Line: What good gifts can we bring to thee, o king
Subject(s): Birthdays


BIRTHDAY LINES TO AGNES BAILLIE, by JOANNA BAILLIE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Dear agnes, gleam'd with joy and dash'd with tears
Last Line: Of such investment, eye had ne'er perceived.
Subject(s): Birthdays


BIRTHDAY MOTTOES: 1, by FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: May the tale the years are telling
Last Line: Dawn for thee!
Subject(s): Birthdays


BIRTHDAY MOTTOES: 10, by FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: A holy, happy birthday
Last Line: With grateful heart we take.
Subject(s): Birthdays


BIRTHDAY MOTTOES: 11, by FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I have no birthday gift to bring
Last Line: And then his glory thine for aye!
Subject(s): Birthdays


BIRTHDAY MOTTOES: 2, by FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Many a happy year be thine
Last Line: Glorious in the life divine.
Subject(s): Birthdays


BIRTHDAY MOTTOES: 3, by FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Many and happy thy birthdays be
Last Line: That thy future life is made.
Subject(s): Birthdays


BIRTHDAY MOTTOES: 4, by FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Love would strew upon thy way
Last Line: Gild thy life with sunshine true.
Subject(s): Birthdays


BIRTHDAY MOTTOES: 5, by FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Birthday blessings, fullest, sweetest
Last Line: Gild thy natal day!
Subject(s): Birthdays


BIRTHDAY MOTTOES: 6, by FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Upward, still upward, thy pathway be
Last Line: Nearer and nearer the stars of light.
Subject(s): Birthdays


BIRTHDAY MOTTOES: 7, by FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The love of god the father
Last Line: For this and every coming day!
Subject(s): Birthdays


BIRTHDAY MOTTOES: 8, by FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Leaning, resting, trusting, loving
Last Line: What has thou to fear?
Subject(s): Birthdays


BIRTHDAY MOTTOES: 9, by FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: We pray thee for our dear one
Last Line: While life itself shall last.
Subject(s): Birthdays


BIRTHDAY ODE, by ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Love and praise, and a length of days whose
Last Line: Fair as youth and sublime as truth we find the fame that we hail to-day.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Fear; Love; Praise


BIRTHDAY ODE FOR THE ANNIVESARY FESTIVAL OF VICTOR HUGO, by ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Spring born in heaven ere many a springtime flown
Last Line: Gives thanks for all thou hast given past thanks of all on earth.
Subject(s): Birthdays; France; Hugo, Victor (1802-1885); Spring


BIRTHDAY PARTY, by KAREN DALE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Complications, months of setbacks. I never feel well enough or happy
Last Line: Her head. They have been here all morning. She is dying of cancer
Subject(s): Birthdays; Parties; Poetry And Poets


BIRTHDAY POEM, by JULIE CARR    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Usually I am elsewhere
Last Line: Summer is a gift I don't want to open
Subject(s): Birthdays; Family Life; Poetry And Poets


BIRTHDAY POEM, by MAXINE CHERNOFF    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Your pale regiment %is not usual as style %or tours of peru
Last Line: Unsure of itself in %its deep attachment %to your nautical humor, %oaths and compasses
Subject(s): Birthdays


BIRTHDAY POEM, by ANA MARIA FAGUNDO    Poem Source                    
First Line: Thirty-six years later you lie upon the blanl
Last Line: Always from gesture to stare, %from love to love always. %thirty-six years dawning
Subject(s): Birthdays


BIRTHDAY POEM, by LINDA NEMEC FOSTER    Poem Source                    
First Line: Our fathers' slow climb
Last Line: And the love, just beginning
Subject(s): Birthdays; Love - Beginnings; Love Affairs; Marriage; Parents


BIRTHDAY POEM ON ANNIVRSARY OF BIRTH OF REV. DR. SWIFT, by THOMAS SHERIDAN (1687-1738)    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: This day, the fav'rite of the year
Last Line: "you never can, nor shall forsake him."
Subject(s): Birthdays; Swift, Jonathan (1667-1745)


BIRTHDAY POEM TO MY WIFE, by ARCHIE RANDOLPH AMMONS    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Have you considered how inconsequential we all
Last Line: Devours me and like inconsequence I'm little and lost
Alternate Author Name(s): Ammons, A. R.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Marriage


BIRTHDAY PREDICTIONS, by BRUCE LANSKY    Poem Source                    
First Line: In twenty years you will have money
Last Line: And won't even know your own name
Subject(s): Birthdays


BIRTHDAY ROAST, by BRUCE LANSKY    Poem Source                    
First Line: We've gathered here to celebrate
Last Line: Will catch up to (his/her) age
Subject(s): Birthdays


BIRTHDAY RULES, by BRUCE LANSKY    Poem Source                    
First Line: Don't invite your friends who havent't learned to use the potty
Last Line: And if you disobey them, you will be in lots of trouble
Subject(s): Birthdays


BIRTHDAY SONG, by PAUL PETRIE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Saddened by the mirror's bulging shape
Last Line: In its weighless weight, begin to dance
Subject(s): Aging; Birthdays


BIRTHDAY SURPRISE, by MARGARET HILLERT    Poem Source                    
First Line: My birthday came, and in a box
Last Line: All soft and warm and furry
Subject(s): Birthdays


BIRTHDAY TALK FOR A CHILD (IRIS), by EDITH BLAND NESBIT    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Daddy dear, I'm only four
Last Line: Because she learned and told you this.
Alternate Author Name(s): Nesbit, E.; Bland, Mrs. Hubert
Subject(s): Birthdays; Children; Childhood


BIRTHDAY VERSES, by THOMAS HOOD    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Good morrow to the golden morning
Last Line: They have learned that look of mine!
Subject(s): Birthdays; Mothers


BIRTHDAY VERSES; WRITTEN IN A CHILD'S ALBUM, by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Twas sung of old in hut and hall
Last Line: Into the inexorable sea.
Subject(s): Birthdays


BIRTHDAY WALK (WRITTEN FOR A FRIEND'S BIRTHDAY), by JEAN INGELOW    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: A birthday: -- and now a day that rose
Last Line: On the broad tower of tamworth church
Subject(s): Birthdays; Friendship


BIRTHDAY WISHES, by BRUCE LANSKY    Poem Source                    
First Line: I wish for peace
Last Line: Would leave for college
Subject(s): Birthdays


BIRTHDAY, BIRTHDAY, BIRTHDAY, by NANCY WHITE CARLSTROM    Poem Source                    
First Line: Balloons on the ceiling
Last Line: Happy-snappy some more
Subject(s): Birthdays


BIRTHDAYS, by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES    Poem Text         Poet Analysis            
First Line: My friend has a birthday
Last Line: Steady, old heart! Lie quiet!
Alternate Author Name(s): Davies, W. H.
Subject(s): Birthdays


BIRTHDAYS, by WALT MASON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: A birthday is a solemn thing; a fellow
Last Line: A few more teeth have fallen out, but I'm as happy as a boy.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Old Age; Weariness; Fatigue


BIRTHDAYS, by TOMAZ SALAMUN    Poem Source                    
First Line: For my twenty-fifth birthday in the army
Last Line: Smoked, and listened to tommy, the who. %maybe I'm writing this because it's so rainy
Subject(s): Aging; Birthdays; Candles


BIRTHDAYS AND MILESTONES, by KATE M. CHIDESTER    Poem Text                    
First Line: Birthdays are milestones
Last Line: At setting of sun.
Subject(s): Aging; Birthdays; Experience; Poetry & Poets


BLOW HARDER!, by BRUCE LANSKY    Poem Source                    
First Line: If you can't blow the candles out
Last Line: That you're not turning ninety-two
Subject(s): Birthdays


BOTH OF THEM WERE SIXTY-FIVE, by GERALD STERN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Ordinarily I wouldn't be introducing aaron copland to ida stern
Subject(s): Birthdays; Love


BOTH OF THEM WERE SIXTY-FIVE, by GERALD STERN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Ordinarily I wouldn't be introducing aaron copland to ida stern
Last Line: A fiddle to match, a fire -- and candles -- burning
Subject(s): Birthdays; Love


BUNCH OF POEMS AND VERSES, SELS., by BEATRICE SCHENK DE REGNIERS    Poem Source                    
First Line: How old will you be on you birthday?
Last Line: You %will %never %be %that %young %again
Subject(s): Birthdays


CANCELED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE, by BRUCE LANSKY    Poem Source                    
First Line: I'm calling you up to inform you
Last Line: Please send me my present by mail
Subject(s): Birthdays


CECILIA HAVERGAL, by FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Christ hath called thee, christ hath blest
Last Line: L ive for him who died for thee.
Subject(s): Birthdays


CELEBRATING MY BIRTHDAY IN GREENWICH VILLAGE, by SANDRA STONE    Poem Source                    
First Line: This week, my life took a turn. I'm not ailing. But then, who knows
Last Line: After I survive what it's not
Subject(s): Birthdays; Greenwich Village, New York City


CHARLES JAMES; ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF HIS BIRTH, by CHARLES SPRAGUE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Thou cam'st -- what pleasures new and bright
Last Line: My charles, my cherub boy!
Subject(s): Birthdays; Sons


CLEVEDON VERSES: 7. NORTON WOOD (DORA'S BIRTHDAY), by THOMAS EDWARD BROWN    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: In norton wood the sun was bright
Last Line: Since last he saw algiers.
Alternate Author Name(s): Brown, T. E.
Subject(s): Birthdays


COLOMBE'S BIRTHDAY; A PLAY. ACTS 1-3, by ROBERT BROWNING    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: That this should be her birthday; and the day
Last Line: Whatever be the issue. Help me, cleves!
Subject(s): Birthdays


COMING OF AGE (J.H.S.), by FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: What do we seek for him today, who, through such golden gates
Last Line: The king of kings, and lord of lords, our saviour and our friend.
Subject(s): Birthdays


COMPLIMENTS OF THE SEASON', by ROSSITER WORTHINGTON RAYMOND    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Little four years, little two years
Last Line: Little two years will be four!
Subject(s): Birthdays; Children


COUNTDOWN, by VICTOR CONTOSKI    Poem Source                    
First Line: The countdown begins
Last Line: A bag of poisoned candy
Subject(s): Birthdays; Childhood Memories


CREATIVE COOKING, by LESLIE DANFORD PERKINS    Poem Source                    
First Line: I baked my father's birthday cake
Last Line: But wow! It sure looks nice
Subject(s): Birthdays


DAD TURNS NINETY, by ELIZABETH ZELVIN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Sometime between the birthday and %the birthday brunch
Last Line: We were away, he changed his mind %and didn't die
Subject(s): Aging; Birthdays; Fathers; Psychoanalysis; Relationships


DEAR AUNT FRANCIS, by MARILYN HELMER    Poem Source                    
Last Line: Your loving nephew, %vincent
Subject(s): Birthdays


DIRECTIONS FOR A BIRTHDAY SONG, by JONATHAN SWIFT    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: To form a just and finished piece
Last Line: And take a guinea for a flee
Subject(s): Birthdays


EARTH IS FULL OF THY RICHES, by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Almighty! Hear thy children raise
Subject(s): Birthdays


EDITH HAVERGAL, by FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Early chastening, early blessing
Last Line: L ight and life and love divine!
Subject(s): Birthdays


EPIGRAM: 9. 53. TO QUINTUS, by MARCUS VALERIUS MARTIALIS    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Your birthday I wished to observe with a gift
Last Line: May the third is the date of my own
Alternate Author Name(s): Martial
Subject(s): Birthdays; Gifts And Giving


FIFTY-THREE, by EILEEN MYLES    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I've already had a lot of them
Subject(s): Birthdays; Middle Age; Books; Trees; Reading


FOR A BIRTHDAY, by CHRISTOPHER DARLINGTON MORLEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: At two years old the world he sees
Last Line: At two years old.
Alternate Author Name(s): Hall, Galway
Subject(s): Birthdays; Children; Childhood


FOR A BIRTHDAY, by LOUISE CHANDLER MOULTON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Thrice happy day, that saw our fair maid's eyes
Last Line: And see the heaven she never can forget.
Alternate Author Name(s): Chandler, Ellen Louise
Subject(s): Birthdays


FOR A SOLDIER'S BIRTHDAY, by EVE MERRIAM    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The weather is war
Alternate Author Name(s): Moskovitz, Eva
Subject(s): War; Soldiers; Birthdays


FOR E.P.S., by FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Francie, may thy childhood be
Last Line: S howering golden love and pleasure.
Subject(s): Birthdays


FOR ELIZABETH CLAY'S BIRTHDAY, by FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: My presence shall go with thee
Last Line: And he hath given me rest'?
Subject(s): Birthdays


FOR K.R. ON HER SIXTIETH BIRTHDAY, by RICHARD WILBUR    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Blow out the candles of your cake
Last Line: Blow out the candles of your cake
Subject(s): Birthdays


FOR K.R. ON HER SIXTIETH BIRTHDAY, by RICHARD WILBUR    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Blow out the candles of your cake
Last Line: You whet your wings till dawn shall break: %blow out the candles of your cake
Subject(s): Birthdays


FOR MICHAEL ON HIS THIRD BIRTHDAY, by PATRICIA PARKER    Poem Source                    
First Line: A distant time past
Last Line: Men - beautiful and black
Alternate Author Name(s): Parker, Pat
Subject(s): African Americans - Children; Birthdays


FOR MY DAUGHTER'S TWENTY-FIRST BIRTHDAY, by JEANNE MURRAY WALKER    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I stroked her cheek with my finger
Subject(s): Birthdays


FOR QUEEN MARY'S BIRTHDAY 1691, by THOMAS SHADWELL    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Welcome, welcome, glorious morn
Last Line: And long preserve the blessings thou hast giv'n.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Courts & Courtiers; Great Britain - Commonwealth & Colonies; Hymns (as Literary Form); Mary Ii, Queen Of England (1662-1694); British Empire; England - Empire


FOR THE KING'S BIRTHDAY 1697, by NAHUM TATE    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Summon to the cheerful plain
Last Line: Who fights to give freedom, and conquers to save.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Courts & Courtiers; William Iii, King Of England (1650-1702)


FOR THE KING'S BIRTHDAY 1715, by NAHUM TATE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Arise harmonious pow'rs
Last Line: Only know to prize the blessing.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Courts & Courtiers; Crowns; George I, King Of England (1660-1727); Happiness; Odes (as Poetic Form); Joy; Delight


FOR THE KING'S BIRTHDAY 1718, by NICHOLAS ROWE    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Oh touch the string, celestial muse, and say
Last Line: And britain's festival be thine.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Europe; George I, King Of England (1660-1727); Great Britain - Relations With France; Triplets; United Nations


FOR THE KING'S BIRTHDAY 1721, by LAWRENCE EUSDEN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis            
First Line: When the great julius on britannia's strand
Last Line: Hush'd was the world when the messiah came.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Courts & Courtiers; Crowns; Europe; George I, King Of England (1660-1727); Odes (as Poetic Form); Olympus (mountain), Greece; Peace; Roman Empire; Royal Court Life; Royalty; Kings; Queens


FOR THE KING'S BIRTHDAY 1723, by LAWRENCE EUSDEN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis            
First Line: Hail to the lov'd, returning, glorious day!
Last Line: Britannia! Ever blest, if they.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Caroline Of Ansbach. Queen Of England; Courts & Courtiers; Crowns; George I, King Of England (1660-1727); Mothers; Royal Court Life; Royalty; Kings; Queens


FOR THE KING'S BIRTHDAY 1731, by COLLEY CIBBER    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: When charles, from anarchy's retreat
Last Line: Fame shall preserve the great, and just.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Courts & Courtiers; Crowns; George Ii, King Of England (1683-1760); Happiness; Obedience; Royal Court Life; Royalty; Kings; Queens; Joy; Delight


FOR THE KING'S BIRTHDAY 1787, by THOMAS WARTON THE ELDER    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The noblest bards of albion's choir
Last Line: His lyre had blameless been, his tribute all sincere.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Courts & Courtiers; Crowns; Exiles; George Iii, King Of England (1738-1820); Muses


FOR THE KING'S BIRTHDAY 1789, by THOMAS WARTON THE ELDER    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: As when the demon of the summer storm
Last Line: Albion the garland gives on this distinguish'd day.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Courts & Courtiers; Crowns; George Iii, King Of England (1738-1820); Health


FOR THE KING'S BIRTHDAY 1794, by HENRY JAMES PYE    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Rous'd from the gloom of transient death
Last Line: Sacred to patriot worth, to patriot bosoms dear.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Capital Punishment; George Iii, King Of England (1738-1820); Great Britain - Wars With France; Louis Xiv, King Of France (1638-1715); Pitt, William, The Younger (1759-1806); Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


FOR THE QUEEN MOTHER, by JOHN BETJEMAN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: We are your people
Last Line: Who chose you as his bride.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Courts & Courtiers; Elizabeth, The Queen Mother (1900-2002); Royal Court Life; Royalty; Kings; Queens; Bowes-lyons, Elizabeth


FREDERICK HENRY HEDGE, D.D. ON HIS 80TH BIRTHDAY, by CHRISTOPHER PEARSE CRANCH    Poem Text     Poem Explanation                 Poet's Biography
First Line: What lapse or accident of time
Last Line: His mellowest music be his last.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Hedge, Frederick Henry (1805-1890); Life; Youth


GHAZAL OF BIRTHDAYS, by JOHN DRURY    Poem Source                    
First Line: The fruit flies celebrate constantly, getting drunk on nectar
Last Line: The coronation ode of this moment, driftwood at sea
Subject(s): Birthdays; Nature


GIFTS, by PETER DAVISON    Poem Text                 Recitation by Author     Poet's Biography
First Line: When I was a child, a heartstruck neighbor died
Subject(s): Birthdays; Death; Gifts & Giving; Dead, The


GLORY, by CARL DENNIS    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: A moment of glory every once in a while
Last Line: Whose inhabitants haven't learned to create from nothing
Subject(s): Birthdays; Family Life


HAPPY BIRTHDAY FROM YOUR LOVING BROTHER, by BRUCE LANSKY    Poem Source                    
First Line: My sister plays with barbie dolls
Last Line: I am giving her a worm
Subject(s): Birthdays


HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME, by MIKE ARTELL    Poem Source                    
Last Line: And the presents are free!
Subject(s): Birthdays


HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! SELS., by THEODORE GEISEL    Poem Source                    
First Line: Today you are you! That is truer than true!
Last Line: If I say so myself. Happy birthday to me!'
Subject(s): Birthdays


HE NEVER EXPECTED MUCH (OR) A CONSIDERATION, by THOMAS HARDY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Well, world, you have kept faith with me
Subject(s): Aging; Birthdays


HE NEVER EXPECTED MUCH (OR) A CONSIDERATION, by THOMAS HARDY    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Well, world, you have kept faith with me
Last Line: As each year might assign
Subject(s): Aging; Birthdays


HER THIRD BIRTHDAY, by WILLIAM WATSON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My tiny lady, can it
Last Line: For you to dream upon.
Alternate Author Name(s): Watson, John William
Subject(s): Birthdays; Children; Childhood


HERE'S A WELCOME TO YOU, PROFESSOR, by UNKNOWN    Poem Source                    
Subject(s): Birthdays


HIS BIRTHDAY, by JULIA CAROLINE RIPLEY DORR    Poem Source         Poet Analysis            
First Line: Nay, master, dare we speak? O mighty shade
Subject(s): Birthdays


HIS BIRTHDAY, by KALFUS KURTZ GUSLING    Poem Text                    
First Line: I wonder if he went long, long ago
Last Line: I'm glad that she was with him to the last.
Subject(s): Birthdays


HIS BIRTHDAY, by MAY LOUISE RILEY SMITH    Poem Text                    
First Line: The day the christ-child's tender eyes
Last Line: May find somewhat to comfort them.
Alternate Author Name(s): Smith, Mary Louise Riley
Subject(s): Birthdays; Christmas; Jesus Christ; Nativity, The


HOLY WORM OF PRAISE, by PHILIP SCHULTZ    Poem Source                    
First Line: Let's raise our glasses & give thanks
Last Line: Our walking here & there on the earth & looking %around
Subject(s): Birthdays


HOROSCOPE, by JEANNINE HALL GAILEY    Poem Source                    
First Line: Chinese horoscope: born 1973, the year of the ox
Last Line: As we build a nest from earth and water
Subject(s): Astrology And Astrologers; Birthdays


I AM RUNNING INTO A NEW YEAR, by LUCILLE CLIFTON    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Last Line: And I beg what I love and %I leave to forgive me
Subject(s): Aging; Birthdays; Holidays; Maturity; New Year


IF WE DIDN'T HAVE BIRTHDAYS, by THEODORE GEISEL    Poem Source                    
First Line: If we didn't have birthdays, you wouldn't be you
Last Line: But you ... You are you! And, now isn't that pleasant!
Subject(s): Birthdays


IMPROMPTU ON MRS. RIDDEL'S BIRTHDAY, by ROBERT BURNS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Old winter, with his frosty beard
Last Line: And winter once rejoiced in glory.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Winter


IN MARY'S MONTH; TO MY YOUNGER SISTER ON HER BIRTHDAY, by R. A. ERIC SHEPHERD    Poem Text                    
First Line: In mary's month, in mary's month
Last Line: As first sweets of the spring.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Oxford University; Sisters


INVITATION, by MYRA COHN LIVINGSTON    Poem Source                    
First Line: My birthday invitation %has balloons
Last Line: To help me celebrate!
Subject(s): Birthdays


LINES ON MY THIRTY-NINTH BIRTHDAY, by JOHN GODFREY SAXE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Ah me!-the moments will not stay!
Last Line: At twice the count of thirty-nine!
Subject(s): Aging; Birthdays; Time; Youth


LINES TO MR. WYNCH ON HIS FORTH-FIFTH BIRTHDAY, by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Since life is a journey, a birthday 'tis clear
Last Line: You meet a good inn, and sweet rest at the last.
Alternate Author Name(s): Aikin, Anna Letitia
Subject(s): Birthdays


LINES, FOR MY MOTHER'S BIRTHDAY, by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: This day let pleasure smile on every face
Last Line: Be clouded with a tear.
Alternate Author Name(s): Browne, Felicia Dorothea
Subject(s): Birthdays; Mothers


LITTLE BROTHER'S SECRET, by KATHERINE MANSFIELD    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: When my birthday was coming
Alternate Author Name(s): Murry, John Middleton, Mrs.; Beauchamp, Kathleen
Subject(s): Birthdays; Sugar


LITTLE BROTHER'S SECRET, by KATHERINE MANSFIELD    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: When my birthday was coming
Last Line: And now it will all be melted. %oh the darling
Alternate Author Name(s): Murry, John Middleton, Mrs.; Beauchamp, Kathleen
Subject(s): Birthdays; Sugar


LUCY'S BIRTHDAY, by WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Seventeen rosebuds in a ring
Last Line: And developing in grace.
Subject(s): Birthdays


LULLABY IN JANUARY, by KEITH WALDROP    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Bravely (it seems to me) you
Subject(s): Winter; Sleep; Birthdays


M.L.C.'S BIRTHDAY CROWN, by FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Only just a line to say
Last Line: In the presence of thy lord!
Subject(s): Birthdays


MARY'S BIRTHDAY, by FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: She is at rest
Last Line: Her anthem they shall swell, her joy they too shall know.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Mary. Mother Of Jesus; Women In The Bible; Virgin Mary


MICKEY'S BIRTHDAY, by OTTO ORBAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Two small-time whores from chicago sit on the bed
Last Line: Tremble across space %toward denver
Subject(s): Birthdays


MIMOSA, by ELAINE TERRANOVA    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: It must have been july
Last Line: He'd have heard my heart beating.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Single People; Bachelors; Unmarried People


MISS SUZY'S BIRTHDAY, by BRUCE LANSKY    Poem Source                    
First Line: Miss suzy had a birthday
Last Line: Till she was twenty-two
Subject(s): Birthdays


MIZPAH (MESSAGE FOR ABSENT FRIENDS): 1, by FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Only a leaf, yet it shall bear
Last Line: What blessings from that prayer may flow.
Subject(s): Birthdays


MIZPAH (MESSAGE FOR ABSENT FRIENDS): 2, by FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Grace, mercy, peace'
Last Line: With our own, with yours and mine.
Subject(s): Birthdays


MIZPAH (MESSAGE FOR ABSENT FRIENDS): 3, by FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Upon the same bright morning star
Last Line: Our hearts may meet, and we are near!
Subject(s): Birthdays


MIZPAH (MESSAGE FOR ABSENT FRIENDS): 4, by FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: As the sounding shell conveys
Last Line: Fail not to rise for thee.
Subject(s): Birthdays


MIZPAH (MESSAGE FOR ABSENT FRIENDS): 5, by FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Though the circling flight of time may find us
Last Line: Only welcomes wait us both above.
Subject(s): Birthdays


MONDAY'S CHILD, by MOTHER GOOSE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Monday's child is fair of face
Last Line: Is bonny and blithe, and good and gay.
Variant Title(s): A Week Of Birthdays;days Of Birth
Subject(s): Birthdays; Children; Day; Mothers; Childhood


MY BAPTISMAL BIRTH-DAY, by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: God's child in christ adopted, - christ my all
Last Line: Yes! But not his -- 'tis death itself there dies.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Religion; Theology


MY BIRTHDAY, by ELIZA COOK    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Mother, there's no soft hand comes now
Last Line: Brighter than that of meeting thee.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Mothers; Nostalgia


MY BIRTHDAY, by GEORGE CRABBE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Through a dull tract of woe, of dread
Last Line: Are choked, are check'd, by many a weed.
Subject(s): Birthdays


MY BIRTHDAY, by THOMAS MOORE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: My birth-day' - what a different sound
Last Line: And comfortless, and stormy round!
Alternate Author Name(s): Little, Thomas
Subject(s): Birthdays


MY BIRTHDAY, by LOUISE CHANDLER MOULTON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Chide not because I doubt who would believe
Last Line: In some glad morning to be born again.
Alternate Author Name(s): Chandler, Ellen Louise
Subject(s): Birthdays


MY BIRTHDAY, by JOHN HENRY NEWMAN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Let the sun summon all his beams to hold
Last Line: Bowed low before the throne 'mid the bright seraph choir.
Subject(s): Birthdays


MY BIRTHDAY, by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Beneath the moonlight and the snow
Last Line: As up the hills of morn!
Subject(s): Birthdays


MY BIRTHDAY; OCTOBER 20, 1927, by OLIVER MURRAY EDWARDS    Poem Text                    
First Line: Sixty-five years ago today
Last Line: Dwell in my soul and heart.
Subject(s): Aging; Birthdays; Memory


MY DAUGHTER VISITS ME AT HIGH CAMP, PLACER COUNTY, ON MY 52 BIRTHDAY, by SANDRA JEAN MCPHERSON    Poem Source                    
First Line: Her blind friend lets the air out of her tires because she will not sleep
Last Line: Forever if she didn't - even on introduction, not knowing she cared - tiptoe %around it to help it p
Subject(s): Birthdays; Daughters


MY FATHER'S HUNDREDTH BIRTHDAY (1), by PETER DAVISON    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Neither the moon face, scarlet
Last Line: As if a lover were cradled in his arms
Subject(s): Birthdays; Fathers


MY FATHER'S HUNDREDTH BIRTHDAY (2), by PETER DAVISON    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Not only the moon face, scarlet
Last Line: As if a darling had crept into his arms
Subject(s): Birthdays; Fathers


MY FIRST BIRTHDAY GIFT, by SANDRA OLSON LIATSOS    Poem Source                    
First Line: They didn't give me
Last Line: My present %was my name!
Subject(s): Birthdays


MY MOTHER IN PROVINCETOWN, by ELIZABETH ZELVIN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Mother, now pushing ninety
Last Line: The men are pretty and the women are strong!
Subject(s): Aging; Birthdays; Mothers; Psychoanalysis; Relationships


MY NEW BIRTHDAY, by AMOS RUSSEL WELLS    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I will have a new birthday to-day
Last Line: For I take a new birthday -- to-day!
Subject(s): Birthdays


NICEST PART, by JEAN CONDER SOULE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Paper hats and frosted cakes
Last Line: Is sharing it with everyone!
Subject(s): Birthdays


NIGHT PIECE FOR MY TWENTY-SEVENTH BIRTHDAY, by JOHN CIARDI    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Punctually now, by all we learned at school
Last Line: Law is the last law to be understood
Subject(s): Army Life; Birthdays; Drills & Minor Tactics


NIGHT PIECE FOR MY TWENTY-SEVENTH BIRTHDAY, by JOHN CIARDI    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Punctually now, by all we learned at school
Last Line: Law is the last law to be understood
Subject(s): Army Life; Birthdays


NINE YEARS OLD, by ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Lord of light, whose shrine no hands destroy
Last Line: Here it hails a lord whose years are nine.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Children; Love; Soul; Childhood


NO MAP, by STEPHEN DOBYNS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: How close the clouds press this october first
Last Line: Showing the dark places and how to escape them?
Subject(s): Surgery; Fathers & Sons; Birthdays


O, DEEM NOT THEY ARE BLEST ALONE, by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Subject(s): Birthdays


ODE ON LORD HAY'S BIRTHDAY, by JAMES BEATTIE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: A muse, unskill'd in venal praise
Last Line: While shouting nations gaze.
Subject(s): Birthdays


ODE TO SIR WILLIAM SIDNEY, ON HIS BIRTHDAY, by BEN JONSON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Now that the hearth is crowned with smiling fire
Last Line: The birthday shines, when logs not burn, but men.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Sidney, Sir William (1590-1612)


ON A BIRTHDAY, by LEWIS MORRIS (1833-1907)    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Fourscore long years, fourscore!
Last Line: What still it holds in store!
Subject(s): Birthdays; Bruce, Henry. Baron Aberdare (1815-1895)


ON A BIRTHDAY, by JOHN MILLINGTON SYNGE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Friend of ronsard, nashe and beaumont
Last Line: Sing loudly this my lady-day.
Alternate Author Name(s): Synge, J. M.
Subject(s): Birthdays


ON A YOUNG LADY'S SIXTH ANNIVERSARY, by KATHERINE MANSFIELD    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Baby babbles - only one
Last Line: You will soon put up your hair!
Alternate Author Name(s): Murry, John Middleton, Mrs.; Beauchamp, Kathleen
Subject(s): Birthdays


ON BEING BORN THE SAME EXACT DAY OF THE SAME EXACT YEAR AS BOY GEORGE, by DENISE DUHAMEL    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: We must have clamored for the same mother, hurried for the same womb.
Last Line: But I can set it straight.
Subject(s): Birthdays; George, Boy (b. 1961); Baby Boom Generation; Women


ON HER BIRTHDAY, 1536, by CHRISTIAN NAGLE    Poem Source                    
First Line: What time is it? The sky's unnaturally gray
Last Line: Is out again! How I detest the thing
Subject(s): Birthdays


ON HER OWN BIRTHDAY, AUGUST 26, 1723, by JUDITH (COWPER) MADAN    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: This day beginning to a creature gave
Last Line: That howe and pope vouchsafe to call her friend.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Pope, Alexander (1688-1744); Self


ON HER SECOND BIRTHDAY, by QUINTIN B. WRIGHT    Poem Text                    
First Line: I've seen the morning sun arise
Last Line: The celestial cadence of your voice!
Subject(s): Birthdays; Children; Childhood


ON HIS FIRST BIRTHDAY, by THOMAS WALSH    Poem Text                    
First Line: With hopes so rich enladen, with thy store
Last Line: Eternal youth on all thy purpose there!
Alternate Author Name(s): Gill, Roderick; Strange, Garrett
Subject(s): Birthdays; Children; Childhood


ON HIS THIRTY-THIRD BIRTHDAY, by CH'ANG KUO FAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: More than thirty years have rushed
Last Line: Better I stayed home %and raised prize melons
Subject(s): Birthdays; Middle Age


ON MY BIRTHDAY, JULY 21, by MATTHEW PRIOR    Poem Text     Poem Explanation                 Poet's Biography
First Line: I, my dear, was born today
Last Line: Thou, my dear, wert born to-day.'
Subject(s): Birthdays; Death; Life; Mythology - Classical; Venus (goddess); Dead, The


ON MY MOTHER'S BIRTHDAY, by CHARLES O. HARTMAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: It's easy to remember
Last Line: The horses in their fields %kneel down in terror
Subject(s): Birthdays; Mothers


ON MY MOTHER'S BIRTHDAY, by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Clad in all their brightest green
Last Line: Combine to bless thy natal day.
Alternate Author Name(s): Browne, Felicia Dorothea
Subject(s): Birthdays; Mothers


ON MY MOTHER'S BIRTHDAY, by ANNE PORTER    Poem Source                    
First Line: The thunderstorm is over
Last Line: Because you cannot lie
Subject(s): Birthdays; Mothers


ON MY MOTHER'S BIRTHDAY; IN AFFLICTION, by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Ah! Withering sorrow wilt thou come
Last Line: "though thorns its dewy leaves enclose."
Alternate Author Name(s): Browne, Felicia Dorothea
Subject(s): Birthdays; Mothers; Sickness; Illness


ON MY MOTHER'S FIFTIETH BIRTHDAY, by MARGARET MILLER DAVIDSON    Poem Text                    
First Line: Yes, mother, fifty years have fled
Last Line: This tribute of a daughter's pen.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Mothers


ON SENDING MY SON AS A PRESENT TO DR. SWIFT, by MARY BARBER    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: A curious statue, we are told
Last Line: A meaner were unworthy swift
Subject(s): Swift, Jonathan (1667-1745); Gifts & Giving; Birthdays; Sons


ON SOUTHEY'S BIRTHDAY, NOV 4, by WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: No angel borne on whiter wing
Last Line: Show us thy light and point the way.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Southey, Robert (1774-1843)


ON THE AUTHOR'S BIRTHDAY, by ISAAC HAWKINS BROWNE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Now six and thirty rapid years are fled
Last Line: "but the fair guerdon is immortal fame."
Subject(s): Birthdays; Fame; Happiness; Reason; Virtue; Reputation; Joy; Delight; Intellect; Rationalism; Brain; Mind; Intellectuals


ON THE DAY THAT YOU WERE BORN, by BRUCE LANSKY    Poem Source                    
Last Line: Dropped you on your head
Subject(s): Birthdays


ON THE EVE OF MY THIRTY-FIFTH BIRTHDAY, by DEBRA KANG DEAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I do not think I'll dye
Last Line: Of erections that will last
Alternate Author Name(s): Dean, Debi Kang
Subject(s): Aging; Birthdays; Life


ON THIS BIRTHDAY OF YOURS, by BEVERLY MCLOUGHLAND    Poem Source                    
Last Line: Could be happening to us!'
Subject(s): Birthdays


OUR LADY'S BIRTHDAY, by EMILY HENRIETTA HICKEY    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The joy of the world is rising from out love's / infinite sea
Last Line: To bear the immortal ave on music that has no end.
Subject(s): Babies; Birth; Birthdays; Love; Mary. Mother Of Jesus; Religious Education; Women In The Bible; Infants; Child Birth; Midwifery; Virgin Mary; Sunday Schools; Yeshivas; Parochial Schools


PICTURE THIS:/ FOR THE 100TH BIRTHDAY OF QUEEN ELIZABETH THE QUEEN MOTHER, by ANDREW MOTION    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My dream of your birthday
Subject(s): Birthdays; Elizabeth, The Queen Mother (1900-2002); Bowes-lyons, Elizabeth


PINATA, by B. J. BUHROW    Poem Source                    
First Line: The fat pink paper-mache burro
Last Line: With the blushes of someone %hanged for the wrong crime
Subject(s): Birthdays; Games; Parties


PINNING THE TAIL ON THE DONKEY, by MYRA COHN LIVINGSTON    Poem Source                    
Last Line: And started to pin it on me!
Subject(s): Birthdays


POEM DELIVERED TO REV. DOCTOR SWIFT, DEAN OF ST.PATRICK'S, by THOMAS SHERIDAN (1687-1738)    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: In sixteen hundred sixty-eight
Last Line: Make me a cart'ret, if you can.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Swift, Jonathan (1667-1745)


POEM FOR A 75TH BIRTHDAY, by MARILYN TAYLOR    Poem Source                    
First Line: Love of my life, it's nearly evening
Last Line: There is, and night will never fall
Subject(s): Birthdays; Love


POEM FOR A BIRTHDAY, by MARISA DE LOS SANTOS    Poem Source                    
First Line: What my mind pushes back toward is irresponsible
Last Line: Grown distilled, feeding both the living and the lost
Subject(s): Birthdays; Poetry And Poets


POEM FOR BROTHER FRANKLIN ON HIS 44TH BIRTHDAY, by ANN HARRINGTON    Poem Source                    
First Line: May sister grain be with you always
Last Line: And water, in springtime, your first green shoots of corn
Subject(s): Birthdays; Brotherhood; Poetry And Poets


POEM FOR ELLIOT CARTER ON HIS 90TH BIRTHDAY, by ALAN DUGAN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I was walking behind elliot carter
Last Line: Playing anyway, invisibly unheard
Subject(s): Birthdays


POEM FOR ELLIOT CARTER ON HIS 90TH BIRTHDAY, by ALAN DUGAN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I was walking behind elliot carter
Last Line: Playig anyway, invisibly unheard
Subject(s): Birthdays


POEM FOR JOAN INGLIS ON HER BIRTHDAY, by RON PADGETT    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: As he stood saying goodbye
Last Line: Small, darkly shaded lamp.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Happiness; Joy; Delight


POEM FOR MY 36TH BIRTHDAY, by DICK ALLEN    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Cool weather at last! The air, this morning, was
Subject(s): Birthdays


POEM FOR MY BIRTHDAY, by LISEL MUELLER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I have stopped being the heroine
Alternate Author Name(s): Muller, Lisel
Subject(s): Birthdays; Self


POEM FOR MY THIRTIETH BIRTHDAY, by JOHN CIARDI    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The clock that splits
Subject(s): Birthdays


POEM FOR MY THIRTY-NINTH BIRTHDAY, by JOHN CIARDI    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Itchy with time in the dogday summer stew
Last Line: The stuck air open, like a death blown over
Subject(s): Birthdays


POEM FOR MY TWENTIETH BIRTHDAY, by KENNETH KOCH    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Passing the american graveyard, for my birthday
Subject(s): Birthdays; Cemeteries; Graveyards


POEM FOR MY TWENTY-NINTH BIRTHDAY, by JOHN CIARDI    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Once more the predawn throbs on engine sound
Last Line: The last compassionate necessity
Subject(s): Birthdays


POEM FOR MY TWENTY-NINTH BIRTHDAY, by JOHN CIARDI    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Once more the predawn throbs on engine sound
Last Line: The last compassionate necessity
Subject(s): Birthdays


POEM FOR SHANE ON HER BROTHER'S BIRTHDAY, by DONALD T. SANDERS    Poem Source                    
First Line: During the early winter
Last Line: Silver tulips of electric light %for her brother
Subject(s): Birthdays; Brothers


POEM FOR YOUR BIRTHDAY; FOR BARBARA THOMPSON, by CAROLYN KIZER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: This year both our birthdays end in zero
Last Line: The password at the boundary is friend.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Friendship; Women; Women's Rights; Feminism


POEM IN OCTOBER, by DYLAN THOMAS    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis         Recitation by Author     Poet's Biography
First Line: It was my thirtieth year to heaven
Subject(s): Birthdays; Youth


POEM IN OCTOBER, by DYLAN THOMAS    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: It was my thirtieth year to heaven
Last Line: On this high hill in a year's turning
Subject(s): Birthdays; Youth


POEM ON HIS 44TH BIRTHDAY, by ED OCHESTER    Poem Source                    
First Line: After so many years I've discovered
Last Line: Rejoice, rejoice
Subject(s): Birthdays; Family Life


POEM ON MY BIRTHDAY, by CALVIN FORBES    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Let the juices of watermelons sparkle, be candles
Subject(s): Birthdays


POEM ON MY BIRTHDAY FOR IRINA RATUSHINSKAYA, by DAVID CONSTANTINE    Poem Source                    
First Line: We have the day in common, also verses
Last Line: Courage, %sister. Good courage, my white sister
Subject(s): Aging; Birthdays; Human Rights


POSTSCRIPT, by DAVID LEHMAN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: He wrote the whole novel in his head
Subject(s): Writing & Writers; Birthdays; Typewriters


PRIMED, by PAULANN PETERSEN    Poem Source                    
First Line: It was middle june
Last Line: Crazy to be divisble by %only myself and one
Subject(s): Birthdays; Summer


REVEILLE FOR MY TWENTY-EIGHTH BIRTHDAY, by JOHN CIARDI    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Now on the bluster and roil of the wind
Subject(s): Birthdays


REVENGE OF THE BIRTHDAY AUNTS, by MICHAEL PLATZER    Poem Source                    
First Line: Mom planned my birthday party
Last Line: We're coming back next year.'
Subject(s): Birthdays


RITES OF PASSAGE, by SHARON OLDS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: As the guests arrive at my son's party
Subject(s): Boys; Birthdays


ROSE'S BIRTHDAY, by WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Tell me, perverse young year
Last Line: Reserve thy frowns for mine.
Subject(s): Birthdays


SATURDAY NIGHT; TO THE REV. C.B. SNEPP, by FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Lord, refresh thy weary servant
Last Line: Let his spirit always be!
Subject(s): Birthdays


SECOND BOOK OF ODES: 3. BIRTHDAY GREETING, by BASIL BUNTING    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Gone to hunt; and my brothers
Last Line: Today I am fourteen years old
Subject(s): Birthdays; Growth; Teenagers


SECOND BOOK OF ODES: 3. BIRTHDAY GREETING, by BASIL BUNTING    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Gone to hunt; and my brothers
Last Line: Today I am fourteen years old
Subject(s): Birthdays; Growth


SECRET, by DOROTHEA TANNING    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: On one of those birthdays of which I've had so many
Subject(s): Birthdays


SENT TO A LADY WITH FLOWERS, by WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Take the last flowers your natal day
Last Line: That smile would win me from the skies.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Flowers


SEVEN TIMES ONE [- CHILDHOOD. EXULTATION], by JEAN INGELOW    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: There's no dew left on the daisies and clover
Last Line: I am seven times one to-day.
Subject(s): Aging; Birthdays; Children; Death; Flowers; Life; Childhood; Dead, The


SIX YEARS OLD, by ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Between the springs of six and seven
Last Line: 09/30/80
Subject(s): Birthdays; Love; Spring


SNIFFING A BIRTHDAY, by THOMAS HOOD    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: To-day it is my natal day
Last Line: I shall not buy it in.
Subject(s): Birthdays


SOME INFORMATION ABOUT TWENTY-THREE YEARS OF EXISTENCE, by JEFF CLARK    Poem Source                    
First Line: In the shrift, she says, 'it is always moving, even in slumber
Last Line: Terror now in the hangar: the little door slides back
Subject(s): Aging; Birth; Birthdays; Family Life; Ontology; Time


SONG, FOR THE KING'S BIRTHDAY, 28 MAY 1716, by NICHOLAS ROWE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Lay thy flowery garlands by
Last Line: Than the bloom of all thy roses.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Capital Punishment; Courts & Courtiers; Crowns; George I, King Of England (1660-1727); Great Britain - Parliament; Jacobites; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


SONG, ON THE BIRTHDAY OF MRS. --, WRITTEN IN IRELAND, by THOMAS MOORE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Of all my happiest hours of joy
Last Line: Be thus with joy remember'd ever!
Alternate Author Name(s): Little, Thomas
Subject(s): Birthdays


SONNET, by JULIA CAROLINE RIPLEY DORR    Poem Source         Poet Analysis            
First Line: How shall I crown this child?
Subject(s): Birthdays


SONNET: 8. TO M. W., ON HER BIRTHDAY, by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Maiden, when such a soul as thine is born
Last Line: Through time, and part it from eternity.
Variant Title(s): Sonnet To - , On Her Birth-day;to Irene On Her Birthday
Subject(s): Birthdays; Transcendentalism


SPECIAL DAY, by SANDRA OLSON LIATSOS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Today the sky %is bluer than ever
Last Line: Today is the day %that I was born!
Subject(s): Birthdays


STAR DANCED, by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Last Line: And under that %was I born
Subject(s): Birthdays


STELLA'S BIRTHDAY, 1720, by JONATHAN SWIFT    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: All travellers at first incline
Last Line: And crowd to stella's at four score.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Johnson, Esther (1681-1728)


STELLA'S BIRTHDAY, 1723, by JONATHAN SWIFT    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Resolved my annual verse to pay
Last Line: With stella's praise to crown the year
Subject(s): Birthdays; Johnson, Esther (1681-1728)


STELLA'S BIRTHDAY, 1725, by JONATHAN SWIFT    Poem Text                 Recitation     Poet's Biography
First Line: As, when a beauteous nymph decays
Last Line: To make me deaf and mend my sight.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Johnson, Esther (1681-1728)


STELLA'S BIRTHDAY, 1726-7, by JONATHAN SWIFT    Poem Text                 Recitation     Poet's Biography
First Line: This day, whate'er the fates decree
Last Line: That I'm alive to tell you so.
Variant Title(s): Stella's Birthday, March 13, 1727
Subject(s): Birthdays; Johnson, Esther (1681-1728)


STEVENSON'S BIRTHDAY, by KATHERINE WISE MILLER    Poem Text                    
First Line: How I should like a birthday!' said the child?'
Last Line: Not part of time, but immortality.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Stevenson, Robert Louis (1850-1894)


THANK YOU, by GOLDIE OLSZYNKO GRYN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Thank you for the birthday cake
Last Line: Doing this again!
Subject(s): Birthdays


THE AMERICAN JOKE (READ AT THE BIRTHDAY DINNER TO S.L. CLEMENS), by WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: A traveller from the old world, just escaped
Last Line: "I type their master-mood. Mark twain made me."
Alternate Author Name(s): Howells, W. D.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Jokes; Twain, Mark (samuel Langhorne Clemens); Writing & Writers


THE BIRTHDAY, by RHYS CARPENTER    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The trees were dripping, dank and still
Last Line: And thoughts to linger in.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Children; Cities; Fire; Rites & Ceremonies; Childhood; Urban Life


THE BIRTHDAY CROWN, by WILLIAM ALEXANDER (1824-1911)    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: If aught of simple song have power to touch
Last Line: Give her the unfading crown!'
Subject(s): Birthdays


THE BIRTHDAY ODE, 1743, SELECTION, by COLLEY CIBBER    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Of fields, of forts, and floods, unknown to fame
Last Line: Sing, britons, tho' uncouth the sound.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Courts & Courtiers; Odes (as Poetic Form); Royal Court Life; Royalty; Kings; Queens


THE BIRTHDAY OF SPRING, by HORACE SMITH    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Cry holiday! Holiday! Let us be gay
Last Line: If my joy be suppressed, I shall burst into tears.
Alternate Author Name(s): Smith, Horatio
Subject(s): Birthdays; Earth; Echo (mythology); Nature; Spring; Tears; World


THE BIRTHDAY PARTY, by JOSEPHINE JACOBSEN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The sounds are the sea, breaking out of sight,
Last Line: Of the children’s light high clear cries
Subject(s): Birthdays


THE BIRTHDAY WREATH, by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Blossom and greenness, making all
Last Line: This isthmian wreath of pine and oak.
Subject(s): Birthdays


THE CHILD'S BIRTHDAY, by MARGARET LOUISA WOODS    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: When berries redden on the thorn
Last Line: Shall crown the month my love was born.
Alternate Author Name(s): Woods, Mrs. Margaret Louisa Bradley
Subject(s): Birthdays


THE FIRST BIRTHDAY, by DAVID HARTLEY COLERIDGE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The sun, sweet girl, hath run his year-long race
Last Line: Its father's frown, its nurse's mimic rage.
Alternate Author Name(s): Coleridge, Hartley
Subject(s): Babies; Birthdays; Infants


THE KING'S BIRTH-DAY IN EDINBURGH, by ROBERT FERGUSSON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I sing the day sae aften sung
Last Line: And tunes her lays.
Alternate Author Name(s): Ferguson, Robert
Subject(s): Birthdays; George Iii, King Of England (1738-1820); Parties


THE LOVER TO HIS MISTRESS ON HER BIRTHDAY, by THOMAS CAMPBELL    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: If any white-winged power above
Last Line: As thou shalt see it rise.
Subject(s): Birthdays


THE TRIUNE PRESENCE (BIRTHDAY OR NEW YEAR'S HYMN), by FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Certainly I will be with thee! Father!' I have found it true
Last Line: True of old, and true this moment, I will trust jehovah's word.
Subject(s): Birthdays; God; Peace


THE TWENTY-SEVENTH OF MARCH, by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Oh, gentle one, thy birthday sun should rise
Last Line: And living fountains of a brighter land.
Subject(s): Birthdays


THE VOLUNTEER LAUREAT; A POEM ON THE QUEEN'S BIRTHDAY, by RICHARD SAVAGE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis            
First Line: Twice twenty tedious moons have rolled away
Last Line: I lose all memory of wrongs and woes.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Honor; Poetry & Poets


THE WANDERER: 5. IN HOLLAND: ON MY TWENTY-FOURTH YEAR, by EDWARD ROBERT BULWER-LYTTON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The night's in november: the winds are at strife
Last Line: To my twenty-fourth year.
Alternate Author Name(s): Meredith, Owen; Lytton, 1st Earl Of; Lytton, Robert
Subject(s): Birthdays; Netherlands; Travel; Holland; Dutch People; Journeys; Trips


THY BIRTHDAY, by CLAUDE A. BARR    Poem Text                    
First Line: Rememberest the lilies-of-the-valley, fair my love
Last Line: Praise to thee, o faithful keeper of the fire, fair my love.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Flowers; Love


TO A FRIEND ON HER BIRTH-DAY, by BERNARD BARTON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Once more, my gentle friend! Has time's swift flight
Last Line: Which speaks them born above, though spent on earth below.
Alternate Author Name(s): Quaker Poet
Subject(s): Birthdays


TO AN INFANT, by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Thou wak'st from rosy [or, happy] sleep, to play
Last Line: He will remember thee!
Alternate Author Name(s): Browne, Felicia Dorothea
Subject(s): Babies; Birthdays; Infants


TO CHARLES FORD, ESQ. ON HIS BIRTHDAY, by JONATHAN SWIFT    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Come, be content, since out it must
Last Line: Twelve pence a corner, if you dare
Subject(s): Birthdays


TO CLARE, CANDLE-WISHES, by EDWARD V. KILLEEN JR.    Poem Text                    
First Line: A birthday cake with tapers bright
Last Line: My candle-wish to you.
Subject(s): Aging; Birthdays; Cakes; Candles


TO DICK, ON HIS SIXTH BIRTHDAY, by SARA TEASDALE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Tho' I am very old and wise
Last Line: The angel sent the stars to you.
Alternate Author Name(s): Filsinger, Ernest B., Mrs.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Old Age; Youth


TO DR. FRANCIS N. PELOUBET; ON HIS SEVENTY-FIFTH BIRTHDAY, by AMOS RUSSEL WELLS    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Some men in age can well contrive
Last Line: Up to the sunny skies!
Subject(s): Birthdays; Old Age; Peloubet, Francis Nathan (1831-1920)


TO E.B. ON HER BIRTHDAY, by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: To thee, sweet girl, these lays impart
Last Line: Till on her cheek the rose expand.
Alternate Author Name(s): Browne, Felicia Dorothea
Subject(s): Birthdays


TO EDWARD KOCBEK ON HIS 70TH BIRTHDAY, by TOMAZ SALAMUN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I have avoided you, great poet
Last Line: Moment by moment joy strengthens
Subject(s): Birthdays; Poetry And Poets


TO ERON ON HER THIRTY-SECOND BIRTHDAY, by SAM HAMILL    Poem Source                    
First Line: When the last shadow
Last Line: What outlasts us is our love
Subject(s): Birthdays; Gratitude


TO HATTIE - ON HER BIRTHDAY, by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: When your 'uncle jim' was
Last Line: On her anniversary.
Alternate Author Name(s): Johnson Of Boone, Benj. F.
Subject(s): Anniversaries; Birthdays; Kisses


TO HELEN, WITH CRABBE'S POEMS, A BIRTHDAY PRESENT, by WINTHROP MACKWORTH PRAED    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Give crabbe, dear helen, on your shelf
Last Line: Nor hides the right, nor gilds the wrong
Subject(s): Birthdays; Crabbe, George (1754-1832); Gifts And Giving


TO HIS WIFE ON THE 16TH ANNIVERSARY OF HER WEDDING DAY, WITH A RING, by SAMUEL BISHOP    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Thee, mary, with this ring I wed' / so, sixteen years ago, I said
Last Line: And teach me all things--but repentance.
Variant Title(s): The Second Marriage
Subject(s): Anniversaries; Birthdays; Gifts & Giving; Love - Marital; Wedded Love; Marriage - Love


TO HOLMES ON HIS BIRTHDAY, by HELEN MARIA HUNT FISKE JACKSON    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: His last leaf flutters, not to fall
Alternate Author Name(s): H. H.; Holm, Saxe; Jackson, Helen Hunt
Subject(s): Birthdays


TO JANE (HIS WIFE, ON HER BIRTHDAY, THE SIXTH OF NOVEMBER), by THOMAS HOOD    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Welcome, dear heart, and a most kind good-morrow
Last Line: So may thy life be measured out by flowers!
Subject(s): Birthdays; Love - Marital; Wedded Love; Marriage - Love


TO JOHN HENRY C. - ON HIS THIRD BIRTHDAY, by FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Blessings on thee, darling boy
Last Line: Through the one eternal day!
Subject(s): Birthdays


TO JULIA ON HER BIRTHDAY, by THOMAS MOORE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: When time was entwining the garland of years
Last Line: And pity shall nurse it with dew!
Alternate Author Name(s): Little, Thomas
Subject(s): Birthdays; Time


TO M.V.G.H. ON HER BIRTHDAY, by FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The blessing of the trusting one
Last Line: Of eternity!
Subject(s): Birthdays


TO MARK TWAIN, by HENRY VAN DYKE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: With memories old and wishes new
Last Line: True wisdom comes with laughter and with tears.
Alternate Author Name(s): Civis Americanus
Subject(s): Birthdays; Twain, Mark (samuel Langhorne Clemens)


TO MISS CORNISH, by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: They tell me, lady, that to-day
Last Line: Miss cornish, on your natal day.
Alternate Author Name(s): Stevenson, Robert Lewis Balfour
Subject(s): Birthdays; Sea; Women; Ocean


TO MISS F.A.L. ON HER BIRTHDAY, by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: What wish can friendship form for thee
Last Line: If sunbeams prove her worth?
Alternate Author Name(s): Browne, Felicia Dorothea
Subject(s): Birthdays


TO MISS LEAR ON HER BIRTHDAY, by EDWARD LEAR    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Dear, and very dear relation
Last Line: And kindly meant in perpetration
Subject(s): Birthdays; Creation


TO MR. THOMAS SOUTHERNE, ON HIS BIRTHDAY, 1742, by ALEXANDER POPE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Resigned to live, prepared to die
Last Line: And scorn a rascal and a coach.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Southerne, Thomas (1660-1746); Southern, Thomas


TO MY AUNT, ON HER BIRTHDAY, by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The muse shall breathe a native lay
Last Line: To bless our little band unite.
Alternate Author Name(s): Browne, Felicia Dorothea
Subject(s): Aunts; Birthdays


TO MY DAUGHTER ON HER BIRTHDAY, by THOMAS HOOD    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Dear fanny! Nine long years ago
Last Line: Was this -- I wept.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Daughters


TO MY ELDEST BROTHER, LIEUTENANT .. HIS TWENTY-FIRST YEAR, by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: While hope, the syren fair and gay
Last Line: "to hail the gallant fusileer."
Alternate Author Name(s): Browne, Felicia Dorothea
Subject(s): Birthdays; Brothers; Soldiers; Half-brothers


TO MY MOTHER ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF HER BIRTH, by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Today's your natal day
Last Line: Great happiness.
Alternate Author Name(s): Alleyne, Ellen; Rossetti, Christina
Variant Title(s): To My Mother On Her Birthday
Subject(s): Birthdays; Mothers


TO MY SISTER, by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: These books you find three weeks
Last Line: "ere we be young again."
Alternate Author Name(s): Johnson Of Boone, Benj. F.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Sisters; Stevenson, Robert Louis (1850-1894)


TO MY WIFE ON HER BIRTHDAY; SONNET, by JOHN GODFREY SAXE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: What! --ty years? -- I never could have guessed it
Last Line: "have spent their life, and, ""dying, made no sign!"
Subject(s): Birthdays; Love - Marital; Wedded Love; Marriage - Love


TO ONE OF THE AUTHOR'S CHILDREN ON HIS BIRTHDAY, by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Where sucks the bee now? Summer is flying
Last Line: Happy and bright is thy natal day!
Alternate Author Name(s): Browne, Felicia Dorothea
Subject(s): Birthdays; Children; Childhood


TO ONE ON HER BIRTHDAY (2), by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Dear, if my secret wishes could have wings
Last Line: Of your soul's truth triumphant over wrong.
Subject(s): Birthdays


TO REV. DOCTOR SWIFT, DEAN OF ST. PATRICK'S. A BIRTHDAY POEM, by THOMAS SHERIDAN (1687-1738)    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: To you, my true and faithful friend
Last Line: You see, dear dean, my dream is out.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Swift, Jonathan (1667-1745)


TO RICHARD HOWARD ON OUR BIRTHDAYS, by JOHN HOLLANDER    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Shedding the scales of early
Last Line: Outspeeding its own sound.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Howard, Richard (b. 1929); Middle Age


TO TERRAUGHTY, ON HIS BIRTHDAY, by ROBERT BURNS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Health to the maxwells' veteran chief
Last Line: While burns they ca' me.
Subject(s): Birthdays


TO THE MEMORY OF MRS. LEFROY, WHO DIED ON MY BIRTHDAY, by JANE AUSTEN    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The day returns again, my natal day
Last Line: Indulge the harmless weakness - reason, spare
Subject(s): Birthdays; Obituaries


TO THE REV. C.B. SNEPP, by FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I have no hymn, my brother
Last Line: Transmuted into praise.
Subject(s): Birthdays


TO VIRGINIA ON HER BIRTHDAY, by ABRAM JOSEPH RYAN    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Your past is past and never to return
Last Line: I breathe this blessing, and I pray this prayer.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Blessings


TO-MORROW IS MY BIRTHDAY, by EDGAR LEE MASTERS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Well, then, another drink! Ben jonson knows
Last Line: Let's walk and hear the lark.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Jonson, Ben (1572-1637); Middle Age; Poetry & Poets


TODAY IS YOUR LUCKY DAY, by BRUCE LANSKY    Poem Source                    
First Line: Today on your birthday
Last Line: Wind up in the zoo
Subject(s): Birthdays


TWELFTH BIRTHDAY, by RACHEL HADAS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: As if because you lay
Subject(s): Birthdays


TWO AGES, by NICHOLAS KOLUMBAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: My daughter thinks that the boogeyman is old
Last Line: She's 48 and 19
Subject(s): Aging; Birthdays


TWO BIRTHDAYS, by RICHARD THOMAS LE GALLIENNE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Your birthday, sweetheart, is my birthday too
Last Line: On -- on -- from star to star.
Subject(s): Birthdays


TWO SISTERS; BIRTHDAY VERSES, by AGNES MARY F. ROBINSON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: And must I welcome in the day
Last Line: Though writ another way.
Alternate Author Name(s): Duclaux, Madame Emile; Darmesteter, Mary; Robinson, A. Mary F.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Sisters


UNCLE IKE'S BIRTHDAY, by PRISCILLA JANE THOMPSON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Well uncle ike! This beats me
Last Line: "tank you sah; I must go."
Subject(s): African Americans; Birthdays; Uncles; Negroes; American Blacks


UNCOMMON NUMBER OF US DIE, by JAMES HARRISON    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Last Line: And abruptly you're back home
Alternate Author Name(s): Harrison, Jim
Subject(s): Birthdays; Death; Nature


VERO BEACH BIRTHDAY, by JOHN UPDIKE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Three score three years ago, a thousand miles
Last Line: The forceps tug me one notch further out
Subject(s): Birthdays


VERO BEACH BIRTHDAY, by JOHN UPDIKE    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Three score three years ago, a thousand miles
Last Line: The forceps tug me one notch further out
Subject(s): Birthdays


WASHINGTON'S BIRTHDAY, by CHARLES S. DAVIS    Poem Text                    
First Line: All hail, thou glorious morn
Last Line: Columbia's son.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Holidays; Presidents, United States; Washington, George (1732-1799)


WASHINGTON'S BIRTHDAY, by MARGARET ELIZABETH MUNSON SANGSTER    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: No rockets flamed in sudden fire
Last Line: The grandest name that stars the state.
Alternate Author Name(s): Van Deth, Gerrit, Mrs.
Subject(s): Babies; Birthdays; Mothers; Presidents, United States; Washington, George (1732-1799); Infants


WHAT YOU WERE LIKE WHEN YOU WERE BORN, by BRUCE LANSKY    Poem Source                    
First Line: When you were born
Last Line: On your head
Subject(s): Birthdays


WHEN FRANKENSTEIN CAME TO MY BIRTHDAY, by ROBERT SCOTELLARO    Poem Source                    
First Line: He came to my birthday and banged down the door
Last Line: But don't invite frankenstein, ever again!!!'
Subject(s): Birthdays


WHICH?, by SILAS WEIR MITCHELL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Birth-day or earth-day
Last Line: Which the well-worth day?
Subject(s): Birthdays; Earth; Happiness; World; Joy; Delight


WILLY'S BIRTHDAY, by PHILIP C. KOLIN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Dress willy up in voices
Last Line: Firing up the yard %late at night
Subject(s): Birthdays; Change; Growth; Miller, Arthur (b. 1915)


WISH, by A. FRIDAY    Poem Source                    
First Line: Each birthday wish %I've ever made
Last Line: And every year %I %do!
Subject(s): Birthdays


YOUR BIRTHDAY IN THE CALIFORNIA MOUNTAINS, by KENNETH REXROTH    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: A broken moon on the cold water
Subject(s): Birthdays; California; Death; Memory; Mountains; Past; Dead, The; Hills; Downs (great Britain)


YOUR BIRTHDAY IN THE CALIFORNIA MOUNTAINS, by KENNETH REXROTH    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: A broken moon on the cold water
Last Line: But you have been dead for thirty years
Subject(s): Birthdays; California; Death; Memory; Mountains; Past