Birthday Honours
My natal day was yesterday;
And so I said to Fate,
'What gifts bring you, by one, by two,
To ease my parlous state?'
'I proffer blindly,' Fate replied,
From chance-found joys and ills.
For you, the 'flu; and this beside,
A sheaf of monthly bills.'

My natal day was yesterday;
And so I said to Chance,
'What gifts bring you, by one, by two,
My fortunes to enhance?'
Said Chance, 'I bring no obvious thing.
Unguessed escape bring I
From dangers rife alway in life
That closely pass you by.'

My natal day was yesterday;
And so I said to Life,
'What gifts bring you, by one, by two,
To salve me in the strife?'
But Life said, 'Nought. Long since I brought
My gifts, glum misanthrope;
And these for you I here renew;
Myself and human hope.'