birthday poem

for daniel

i was going to write an amazing poem for you, 
but the alphabet t u m  b   l     e     d    a     w      a       y

in its place, 

a small seed from a passing bird fell down

in the space cleared by the missing alphabet

where the words weren't 

and the seed was

a worm nirbled up through the soil

and sluiced back down

carrying the seed into the earth

suddenly a leaf flew up (like bird wings)

and another

on a long rope of knotted trunk twine.

more leaves climbed up the rope of vine

looping up and up, 

and began to form whirls and q's

a kind of vegetative alphabet

a cacaphony of letters, a verdant hymn

suddenly it was a jungle, a forest, surging forth

from the vine sprout

from the seed passed by a bird

carried in the earth

in the space cleared by the missing alphabet

all of creation sprouted forth

so large and diverse an earth, 

then a moon slipped up the girth of the trunk

and was held by silver leaves

music from faeries came to life, lit

by this feral green moon, moist with birth and life

everything came out of that spot

as if nature inverted to make more of herself

in celebration of you

the earth made itself, the moon rose in celebration

of your birth, this earth, this day, this breath

and for that, certainly, we hear the faery

tympanum and lute, this song before words,

and after, 

this thanks