Secret
by Dorothea Tanning
On one of those birthdays of which I've had so many
I was walking home through the park from a party,
pleased that I'd resisted mentioning the birthday—
why hear congratulations for doing nothing but live?
The birthday was my secret with myself and gave me,
walking under all those trees, such a strong feeling of
satisfaction that everything else fell away: party sounds,
the hostess who stared and as suddenly disappeared
on seeing her husband walk in with a young(er ) friend;
another guest examining garment labels in the room
where I went to leave my jacket; one of two waiters
balancing a trayful of foot-high champagne glasses;
a bee-like buzz of voices I ought to have enjoyed
but heard as foreign babble, so remote it was from
a birthday, so empty of import nothing would remain.
I got my jacket, waved from the hall, pressed Down.
In summer the park, for an hour or so before night,
is at its greenest, a whole implicit proposition
of green leaves, a triumph of leaves enfolding me
that day in a green intimacy so trustworthy I told
them my secret: "It's my birthday," I said out loud
before turning away to cross the avenue.
"Secret" by Dorothea Tanning, from A Table of Content. © Graywolf Press, 2004. Reprinted with permission
This too from the Writer's Almanac
It is not my birthday today, mine is in the beginning of the summer,"why,hear congratulations for doing nothing but live". I am one who tends to keep things private, do not like when fusses are made about me. There are times I am disappointed in human responsiveness or lack thereof and know the intimacy of sharing a secret with a spread of light lit leaves as I walk through a park that becomes a trusted friend.I do however think, that congratulations is appropriate and necessary for every day that is lived as life has great challenges and magnificent triumphs, none of which comes without great effort and perseverance. So I am about praising all days of our living for the great risks,trials,tribulations and trying that we do every single ordinary day ,birthday or not.
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