The Forgotten Birthday
The Forgotten Birthday
I looked forward to 1918,
The year I’d finally turn ten.
I’d planned my party, a fun-filled day,
And I hoped, for just one day,
That gardens and war bonds would fade
From the thoughts of my parents.
But I did not know that a war
Would become the least of my young worries.
A silent killer, savage and brutal,
Began to blaze from city to city.
The other girls at school learned
A new little chant to jump rope to.
I had a little bird
And its name was Enza,
I opened the window,
And in-flew-Enza.
But no window need be opened
I learned, watching new posters
Appear outside the picture shows.
Don’t sneeze, they said, don’t cough, they said,
It is here, they said, it is here!
So I donned my mask, hid my face,
Stayed away from the other kids
Like my parents told me to do.
But it wasn’t enough, I found.
My friends began to disappear
One by one from school each day
As their parents got sick
Until no one was left except
Me, all alone in the classroom.
The streets all emptied, and the shops
All closed, with no one left to watch them.
Then mother grew sick, coughing until
She couldn’t watch the baby.
Stay home and help Mother, said Pa.
He had to work around the clock
At the hospital crowded with
The dead and dying, the sickly.
And so I stayed home, Mother sick
In her and Pa’s bedroom.
It was just me and Baby Nick,
No sounds but Mother’s harsh coughs
And Baby Nick’s fitful wails
For two long, lonely days.
No comforting dinnertime talk
No nightly radio gathering,
No laughter, no joy or singing,
Just the tick of the clock as it got
Later and Mother got worse.
Tick tock, tick tock, the clock hit twelve
And my mother stopped breathing,
Baby Nick began wheezing,
And Pa had still not come home for me.
So I sat, sniffling, crying, face
Buried against the baby’s neck
As his face began to turn blue
like Mother’s had earlier.
Tick tock, tick tock, the clock hit two
And my brother stopped breathing.
I kept rocking him and crying
And wishing Pa would get home
So someone could wish me
A happy, happy birthday.
I looked forward to 1918,
The year I’d finally turn ten.
I’d planned my party, a fun-filled day,
And I hoped, for just one day,
That gardens and war bonds would fade
From the thoughts of my parents.
But I did not know that a war
Would become the least of my young worries.
A silent killer, savage and brutal,
Began to blaze from city to city.
The other girls at school learned
A new little chant to jump rope to.
I had a little bird
And its name was Enza,
I opened the window,
And in-flew-Enza.
But no window need be opened
I learned, watching new posters
Appear outside the picture shows.
Don’t sneeze, they said, don’t cough, they said,
It is here, they said, it is here!
So I donned my mask, hid my face,
Stayed away from the other kids
Like my parents told me to do.
But it wasn’t enough, I found.
My friends began to disappear
One by one from school each day
As their parents got sick
Until no one was left except
Me, all alone in the classroom.
The streets all emptied, and the shops
All closed, with no one left to watch them.
Then mother grew sick, coughing until
She couldn’t watch the baby.
Stay home and help Mother, said Pa.
He had to work around the clock
At the hospital crowded with
The dead and dying, the sickly.
And so I stayed home, Mother sick
In her and Pa’s bedroom.
It was just me and Baby Nick,
No sounds but Mother’s harsh coughs
And Baby Nick’s fitful wails
For two long, lonely days.
No comforting dinnertime talk
No nightly radio gathering,
No laughter, no joy or singing,
Just the tick of the clock as it got
Later and Mother got worse.
Tick tock, tick tock, the clock hit twelve
And my mother stopped breathing,
Baby Nick began wheezing,
And Pa had still not come home for me.
So I sat, sniffling, crying, face
Buried against the baby’s neck
As his face began to turn blue
like Mother’s had earlier.
Tick tock, tick tock, the clock hit two
And my brother stopped breathing.
I kept rocking him and crying
And wishing Pa would get home
So someone could wish me
A happy, happy birthday.
