The canary yellow envelope at mail call
aroused the other seminarians,
“What's the occasion?”
“Ya got me,” I lied and peeked in at
two Mallards landing
on a Blessed Virgin blue
pond with a largemouth bass
leaping to greet them
under the swirling script
in the sky—
Happy Birthday
To A Wonderful Son—
the only reminder that
tomorrow, just another
day in the sem,
was my birthday,
the seventh since any celebration
with Mom and Sarah, my sister,
the seventh away from Winthrop Street
in Detroit, half a continent west,
my third birthday
with my new family
the Congregation of the Holy Ghost
whom I adopted with vows of
poverty, chastity, obedience
a family but
no gifts, not even a handkerchief,
no three-layer cake
lathered with angel-white icing,
lipstick-red roses,
first slice for the birthday boy,
no candles, family, friends to sing
Happy Birthday to You