Diurnal
I wish I had a birthday
On any day but mine.
To celebrate on any other day
Would sure enough be fine.
Oh, to have it in December,
Maybe on the first,
Would be better than the day I have
Which surely is the worst.
Or maybe in November
With the veterans or Thanksgiving.
I could even handle October,
With Columbus (were he living).
September would be fine with me,
All that work and labor,
To share a celebration with
All my friends and neighbors.
August would be even better
Or maybe a July 4th celebration
As the country throws me a birthday party
All across the nation.
In June with all the debutantes
Or May with all the grads;
Even April would be better than what I’ve got,
Which is why I’m oh so sad.
In March upon the Ides
Or February with its stinging chill;
But not even that can substitute
For my birthday’s bitter pill.
No, my birthday’s January 2nd
And I feel it drawing near;
Right around the corner,
On the worst day of the year!
by Mac MacKechnie (2003)
So right away you're thinking that she is feeling way too sorry for herself. Well, that's not true at all. It takes real "social security" to whine about a birthday on such a lousy day of the year as January 2nd. Mac wrote the poem and on my next birthday, Mike had it set to music and had a CD cut of it made by a local Austin wanna-be-musician.
June 15th has always been my dream birthday. So perhaps I'll just change it beginning in 2006. But, of course, I still want the S.S. checks to begin now!
Take your life
in your own hands
and what happens?
A terrible thing —
no one to blame.
— Erica Jong
The Worst Day of the Year
