Birthday Lights
By Calef Brown
Light bulbs on a birthday cake.
What a difference that would make!
Plug it in and make a wish,
then relax and flip a switch!
No more smoke
or waxy mess
to bother any birthday guests.
But Grampa says, “it’s not the same!
Where’s the magic?
Where’s the flame?
To get your wish without a doubt,
You need to blow some candles out!”
Copyright Credit: Calef Brown, "Birthday Lights" from Flamingos on the roof: poems and paintings. Copyright © 2006 by Calef Brown. Reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Source: Flamingos on the roof: poems and paintings (Houghton Mifflin, 2006)