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The great Catholic theologian Henri Nouwen thought birthdays were the most important celebration because we celebrate a person for their simple presence among us. We are glad for them, and just for them. We celebrate nothing they have done or accomplished, but we celebrate our good fortune of having them in our life.
I believe that when Jesus said to love God and fellow man, they were less commandments and more gifts. When we love the people in our lives then we glimpse God. Today is my wife’s birthday and like all poets the world over, I wrote her poems as gifts. The one below came from seeing her in the unfolding of her motherhood. My son is blessed by her. I am blessed by her. I touch God in our relationship.
The First Time Ever We Grew Together
-from Tito to His Mom on Her Birthday
Your face,
your eyes bring
comfort when I
fall. Your quick steps,
mom,
accompanies the chortle
and the sounds of a choo choo
train I trail behind
you with laugh
and a squeal. To the bath,
to the highchair,
to the living
room, to put away
my cars, the same journey
with the new scenery
passes by the windows
of our eyes. Moments
of our times together
shower down and I grow
like flowering spring columbine
or that overgrown oregano
in our front patio. “Look at me,”
I say with a thunderclap. I try
to jump high, to scare you
on the couch, and eat
a bowl full of popcorn.
“Do you hear that?”
“What was that?”
“The first time ever
I saw your face…”
The iPad sings
In the background.
The music vibrates
in the newness
of your face,
mom,
that I see
every day.
Art, says Ernesto Tinajero, comes from the border of what has come before and what is coming next. Tinajero uses his experience studying poetry and theology to write about the intersecting borders of art, poetry and religion.
Happy birthday to your wife, Ernesto! My birthday is Friday. How treasured I would feel to have poems written in my honor! May you always hold her in such high regard…
Tell Lace I said happy birthday! This is SO sweet.
Friends, the app is really working, I’m in shock right now??