Raymond Klassen – Ideals and Identities

When children are babies it’s easy to feel needed;
We had reached for each other and the kids had pleaded.
But as the grey lies about the wisdom we’ve gained,
Sometimes still the wind blows and the clouds fill with rain.
Yet, when you are around, life emerges through pain.

Then the sun breaks through, and winter does end,
And I am still sitting next to my very best friend,
You’re slurping soup, and I’m gulping down meat,
Avoiding the smell of teenager’s feet;
Taking afternoon naps, oh what a treat!

While today is your birthday, yesterday was still new,
so saying, “Happy Birthday!” underestimates you.
What words fail to express, and cannot suppress,
Is that need is impressed, and thriving finessed,
And all the while letting our dreams be caressed.

Simply saying I love you, well, that just wouldn’t do.
Without folding the laundry, it just seems untrue.
42 years on this earth seems a little bit short,
A struggling ship crossing rough seas, early to port. 
Today and tomorrow, having the greatest import.