RoseAnne, your friends have gathered here
Acknowledging your birthday year.
We’re here, divided by the line
You’re poised to cross, this birthday time.
Those who’ve crossed say it’s a snap;
Just wear more clothes and take your nap.
While others sit among our throng
And wonder if they’ll live that long.
Some women like to spin and flash;
In love with beauty, thinly splash
Their vanity on life’s fine veneers
‘Till spiritually they are in arrears
Others like to hide their lot,
Proclaim by silence all they’re not
They die, lamenting for the train
They waited for, that never came.
A few like you choose the path between
–Twixt darkness and the glamorous sheen
Asserting quietly who they are,
They chart their own bright personal star
RoseAnne, we’re glad you did not go ta
Someplace else than Minnesota.
As you unfold your grace to be,
You’ll make a lovely thirty-three.
Stephen Bolles
All rights reserved
4/9/82