Birthdays

Birthdays come to get us all,
an equity which seems unfair
enough to warrant alcohol,

but let’s not part with any hair:
youth’s no earthly paradise,
and life’s not a flight of stairs.

It’s always youth for sacrifice,
to stuff with misbegotten lore;
for youth’s tuition, youth’s the price,

birthdays make us wise, if sore;
if knotty heads undo no walls,
they recognize an open door.

Birthdays come to get us all;
take your vengeance at the mall.