My apologies for the delay, I have completed my course of antibiotics for my eye problem, then was on holiday in England for two weeks. Today is my wife’s birthday, here is this year’s poem:

Twenty-Four and Two-Thirds

Twenty-four and two-thirds old is not so bad to be,
Especially when most of that has been spent here with me.
I’ve seen you at your very best, I’ve seen you at your worst
I’ve seen the way you always work to put all others first.

All the chaos and the noise that you’re forced to endure,
All the troubles and complaints and annoyed demands for more
You deserve far better than we give you every day,
So we thought we’d try to gladden you in another way.

A visit to a beach that always gave us lots of fun,
Even when encamped there in the absence of the sun.
It started well enough, then the tide began to swell,
And the sea began to weave a novel, captivating spell:

Rank after heaving massed rank of liquid cavalry
Drove us back from our positions to seek out higher shores;
The sun beautified the faces of their translucent crested blades
As they filled the quaking air with their noble salted roars.

Hidden rocks betrayed by the folding of the waves,
Children shrieked exultant in the crashing foams and sprays,
Building fresh defences as the old were washed away;
It all combined to celebrate a memorable day.

So now we’re all back home again, adjusting to the norm
In our strong house that keeps us safe from every passing storm
We’d like you to remember how beloved you still are,
With special birthday wishes for our mum, wife, friend and star.