Red. Blue. Green balloons skip from hand to air.
Their buoyance pulling taught on string without a care
For cutting of birthday cake or pink frosty icing melting
In the sun, party plates pass from Nanna to Papa.
The sleek magic man pulls another trick, waves his hands and ‘ta-da’.

The birthday boy sits unblinking,
Whilst those around make merry clinking,
Stupor with drinking.
Unmoved in his party of one.

Pink candy, fluffy pillows, sugar spun round like may pole in June
Sun, gliding through shrouds of baby blue glue on the day when somebody loved you,
The faded scent of burning popcorn scars memory.
Faint, old, warm voices rise in chorus of lukewarm water, embrace the scene
As children in play, chase white rabbits through hedges all summer day.

The birthday boy sits with guard folded,
and his mind is moulded,
his memory of play is shrouded,
thoughts making merry grounded,
unmoved in his party of one.

Sweet, suckling, pig aroma, dancing through the air and making merry
all the guests, with hustle and bustle, meeting and greeting with every
burst of laughter, rising and drowning in the air like Ariel,
Enchantress of Garden chairs, thin napkins caped in Tomato,
Children bounce around on castles, kings clinging to memories of tomorrow

The birthday boy sits far away,
Where his thoughts are free to flay,
All memory of that savage day,
Where innocence and virtue lay,
Unmoved in his party of one,

Ice cream Sundaes glitter as diamonds, yawning and smiling
As cream floats down the exquisite vase in timing
To lecherous looks promising requiem to appetite,
A chorus of laughter fills the air with, pop- another bottle,
Warm embrace of familiar friends, we smile soft as a bubble…

The birthday boy,
with stern and solemn stare,
Dares not cut the air,
Or insist on what is fair,
But sits to fester in the sun’s cold glare,
Looking like he does not care,
Unmoved in his party of one.

Sun flakes leaping over my neighbour’s
Stubbly white palace, beams trickle round its walls in party favours,
Death lightning blinding, level-climbing, stupor rising, smiling clowns,
Gracefully rummage through pockets for silver-shining keys,
Embraces kind faces with kinder eyes and another cherished memory leaves.

The birthday boy sat silent as the grave,
His parents want him to behave,
No boy like fancies left to save,
Stooped low in his plastic cave,
Ruing the knife that thought him brave.
Unmoved in his party of one.

Of all the kinetic ripples
that shimmer across
our luminiferous
sweep of sky,
none move me like
the voyage of sleek Sakiya,
Princess of pristine flight!
Her poise is subtle,
her path a prance,
she springs upon the air
with ballon buoyance!
It is the pantomime dance
of her spirit
which keeps her
tracing the clouds,
and her quixotic beauty
should never be covered by shrouds.
With a boundless grace and
her beatific face, we are often
reminded of angels
winging in space!
I lift my heart
as she skims the sky,
with my belief in miracles
beaming from my eyes.
Lovely Sakiya, Princess of Flight,
May your cherry blossom spirit
always reach new heights!

O friend! A friend, truly, are you
To have noticed my iron legs,
And not the rotten part; the host of flies.
How pleasant was the fragrance
Which you thought to be that of buoyance?

O friend! A friend, truly, are you
To have noticed my tears in the rain.
Ah! You did not see at all,
For my tears was the rain.

O friend! A friend, truly, are you
To neglect my presence before came the sun:
When I was trying to kindle my candle,
But comprehend my presence when the sun rose.

O friend! Was it the scars on my shadow you saw
Or the shadows of my scar?
Whichever, both were mine.
Or did you not see at all?
A friend, truly, are you then.

By Abdulmalik Jibril