Paint the Cake With Fire

"Surprise Party," by Frederic Belaubre

Paint the Cake With Fire

For the first days weeks of a baby’s life all
we say is Look how tiny he is and beautiful
And then within a month or two it starts
Look how big she’s getting
How is time moving so quickly
Invent a new creature
and through him time emerges
At first you are the new creature
and then you can only marvel at the small
ones emerging from it seems nowhere
And the new ones make us old and uncool
which means we know the unendingness
of time has ended
And no one declares at our birthdays
Look how old she is
and still alive
except for ourselves