anniversary

photo belongs to Brant Avondet
Wise things have been said about the passing of time
we acknowledge at anniversaries for most of our lives.
As I age I recall the joy of birthday parties when I was a child
the gathering of friends and opening of presents
the cake with candles happily burning, occasionally dripping
on my favorite chocolate frosting;
and also Mom the best dessert maker,and party organizer ever.

As I grew up and left home I took over the role
my Mom played for so long: the cake building, inviting the friends
placing the candles and counting the years.
As the candle number grew higher, to high to fit them all confortably
on any reasonable cake I plainly stopped making them
in the secret hope that ignoring the yearly event
will make the passing of time ignorable too;
but the years still kept coming, shading a sort of dust which made my hair graying.

I bake cakes again, and enjoy childrens' birthdays
as for the grownups I like to compare them with good aging wines
and there are so many I like to remember.
Some like the ubiquitous retsina
have a bitter feeling about them, like those tired days after which
you want to get fresh again to prepare for tomorrow.
There are white wines from Kefalonia clear like a summer morning,
oily golden ones from Samos, and the thick red wines from Santorini
sweet like a romantic summer evening,
and the perennial favorite the reminder of carnival nights
Mavrodaphne of Achaia - from the hills around the city of Patras.
Wish my friend that there enough days for us to taste
the variety days can have in a lifetime of all sorts of events;
live, drink and enjoy the presence of friends.