My Other Birthday Valentine

One doldrum day in my ninth summer

I felt so strangely blissful and grand

I declared it was my birthday

And invited all my little friends

Too late to take back the lie

My mother went along with it

And bought a cake and party hats

My sister stood aghast and cried

But uttered not a word

While I in smiling terror played

My last day as a child

And when my nervous guests had gone

My mother turned on me in anger

Sent me to bed with a wooden spoon

All this set a pattern of hidden

Resentment mixed with regret

And I have struggled mightily

With reality ever since