Thanks for helping keep my candle lit, happy birthday.

set out to write true love
a birthday poem,
dipped in quivering quill
then fingers went
frozen.
me, of this floodgate soul,
sanctimony served by
the mouthful
grown fretful when
bare, and stripped of
all my clever-
just a stealthy take
on fear of really
being seen
and
its routine
procrastination,
selective attention
cue deflections,
still blank as parchment
laid out in rather dry
n’ taunting pose,
still, i see her better with
my eyes closing
i’ll try again after
ten winks a
dozing–
only dream worth
deeper knowing.

image: https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/484981453607359514/
image: https://www.amazon.in/My-Party-Suppliers-Candle-Decoration/dp/B0796X54NP