A Birthday.

Sometimes I wish it was all gone

not the day which is another day,

but the build-up to the inevitable hour,

of a clash, a contestation,

looking the devil in his eyes.

It is not the test itself which proves unmanageable

but the days, the hours, the minutes, the seconds

untill the spirit is unleashed

and all the stress of the escalation vanishes

or recedes like a whole year that has already passed

on a birthday

or a life that has ended and vanished

like a dream.

Alfred Grech

18/01/2019