86. Belated Greetings

BELATED GREETINGS!

I missed the Horses' Birthday!
Oh what an oversight!
On the First of August every year
There are candles we should light!
For every horse gets older
By precisely one whole year
On the self-same date in August.
Now don't you think that's queer?
If it lives below the Equator,
On that very special date
It must celebrate its birthday,
Sometimes early, sometimes late.
When I was teaching children
We made a mighty fuss.
We'd celebrate those birthdays
As though they affected us!
'Today's the Horses' Birthday!'
The little ones would cry.
And we'd paint delightful pictures
And we'd hang them out to dry.
We'd read stories about horses,
We'd go galloping outside,
And I might make up a poem
About going for a ride.
But now I'm out to pasture
Like a poor old nag myself,
And the books about the horses
Are all dusty on the shelf.
All the poems have been written,
All the stories have been told.

I forgot the Horses' Birthday!
I must be growing old!