Laly's Birthday v2
listen on youtube or here
Baby's Birthday version
listen on youtube or here
happy birthday laly
Unexplainable thoughts i have
I have 9 on this December morning
is this day tacked on your calendar?
It's been a row of fruitful seasons.
so, subtract one from me for not being around
my declining seasons seem mundane
=
I don't have birth moments like you,
just hope & anticipation so I tag on to yours.
laly, your Birthday's an epiphany
I give it room service
A bump up from gravity
A blessing you're around
albeit opposite ends of coasts.
i still trace your smile through photographs
=
though the reasons are here In the flesh and bones of you celebrating
nothing is out of the ordinary; you do you in Los Angeles,
and I am still me,
still swaying with what's left of your sweet aura in New York City.
What a deserted place on this elevated day
dragging out my side, that's stuck in the moment.
=
It's the time of the season to change,
to renew the old, like me
The Seasonal winds of change
Ripping me away from you
drifting parts of me fall like leaf's
my days are slapped around in mid-air
landing under the cruel footsteps of the years gone forever,
Without sharing it with you
=
I longed to impregnate your thoughts of me
to crave me just for one season
to say I was there for a reason
like the day everyone loved you
the day you landed from your mother's ship
I longed for a chance to hold you
watch you smile, speak to you face to face
to tell you that all I have is this poem in a song
& I wish you a happy birthday laly
happy birthday laly
and I hope all is well
i wish all is well
and happy birthday laly
=
lyrics & vocals: azdi404
music credit:past love by farberbeats w/ ryann music
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Elcee's Birthday v1
listen on youtube or here
Unexplainable thoughts
I have 9 on this December morning
is this day tacked on your calendar?
It's been a row of fruitful seasons.
subtract one from me for not being around
my declining seasons seem mundane
=
I don't have birth moments like you,
just hope & anticipation
so I tag on to yours.
your Birthday's an epiphany
I give it room service
A bump up from gravity
A blessing you're around
albeit opposite ends of coasts.
=
though the reasons are here In the flesh and bones of you celebrating
nothing is out of the ordinary; you do you in Los Angeles,
and I am still me,
still swaying with what's left of your sweet aura in New York City.
What a deserted place on this elevated day
dragging out my side, that's stuck in the moments.
=
It's the time of the season to change,
to renew the old, like me
The Seasonal winds of change
Ripping me away from you
drifting parts of me fall like leaves
my days slapped around in mid-air
landing under the cruel footsteps of the years
gone forever,
Without sharing it with you
=
I longed to impregnate your thoughts of me
to crave me just for one season
to say I was there for a reason
like the day everyone loved you
the day you landed from your mother's ship
I longed for a chance to hold you
speak to you face to face
to tell you that all I have is this poem in a song
& I wish you a happy birthday (elcee)
happy birthday elcee
and hope all is well
=
lyrics & vocals: azdi404
music credit: Anita by (beautiful death)
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This poem, “Laly’s Birthday,” is a tender, melancholic reflection on love, absence, and the passage of time. It captures the voice of a speaker who is both emotionally intimate and geographically distant, addressing someone named Laly with affection, regret, and nostalgia. Though framed as a simple birthday greeting, the poem becomes a meditation on memory, longing, and unfulfilled connection, rendered through imagery of seasons, time, and distance.
Let’s explore the poem through its themes, tone, structure, imagery, and underlying meaning.
I. Central Themes
1. Absence and Emotional Distance
The poem’s emotional axis lies in separation. The speaker and Laly are on “opposite ends of coasts”—Los Angeles and New York—symbolizing not only physical but also emotional distance. The speaker’s life is defined by this separation, and the birthday becomes a moment when absence feels most pronounced:
“What a deserted place on this elevated day / Dragging out my side, that’s stuck in the moment.”
The contrast between celebration and solitude—between Laly’s joyful birthday and the speaker’s isolated reflection—heightens the emotional tension. The birthday is not merely her day; it is a temporal marker of loss, reminding the speaker of where he is not.
2. Time, Seasons, and Renewal
The poem is rich with seasonal imagery, which functions as an extended metaphor for time, change, and emotional decay.
“It’s been a row of fruitful seasons / So, subtract one from me for not being around.”
“The Seasonal winds of change / Ripping me away from you.”
The “fruitful seasons” imply that Laly’s life continues to grow and thrive, while the speaker’s “declining seasons” suggest stagnation and emotional erosion. The shift of seasons becomes symbolic of the cyclical nature of longing—renewed each year, yet never fulfilled.
Birthdays, like seasons, recur but never repeat exactly; they serve as annual reminders of time’s movement and love’s stillness.
3. Longing and Idealization
The speaker’s yearning for presence is deeply romanticized:
“I longed to impregnate your thoughts of me / To crave me just for one season / To say I was there for a reason.”
This confession reveals a desire not merely for physical closeness, but for emotional permanence—to be remembered, to matter. The verb “impregnate” conveys both creation and deep embedding—he wants his memory to take root in her consciousness, to leave an indelible mark.
His longing culminates in a bittersweet humility:
“To tell you that all I have is this poem in a song.”
This admission turns the poem itself into a gift of absence—the only offering he can give across distance and time.
4. The Intersection of Art and Emotion
The speaker translates his feelings into artistic expression—poetry as both a medium of communication and catharsis. In this way, the poem becomes a love letter disguised as a birthday greeting, and a testament to art’s ability to preserve emotional truth when physical connection is impossible.
“All I have is this poem in a song.”
This line emphasizes the transformative power of poetry—to turn longing into creation, absence into articulation.
II. Imagery and Symbolism
1. Seasons as Emotional Metaphor
Each season mirrors a state of being:
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Fruitful seasons — times of connection and joy.
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Declining seasons — loneliness, emotional fatigue.
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Falling leaves and winds of change — time’s relentless movement and the inevitability of separation.
The speaker is caught in a perpetual autumn, a state of slow decay and reflection, while Laly remains the symbol of spring—renewal and vitality.
2. Celestial and Birth Imagery
“The day you landed from your mother’s ship”
The image of “landing” evokes birth as arrival, almost cosmic in scale. The mother’s body becomes a vessel, a “ship,” suggesting Laly’s entry into the world as something wondrous and fated.
The celestial tone contrasts with the speaker’s grounded sadness, enhancing the idea that Laly represents something otherworldly and unattainable—a being of light while he remains earthbound.
3. Geographic Duality
The poem situates the lovers on opposite American coasts—Los Angeles and New York City—both symbolic metropolises of dream and solitude. This contrast reinforces the idea of emotional disconnection within modern existence, where even shared technology and memory cannot bridge the psychic distance between two souls.
“I still trace your smile through photographs.”
This line captures the digital ghost of intimacy, where photographs substitute for presence, and memory becomes the only form of touch.
III. Tone and Voice
The tone oscillates between melancholy, tenderness, and quiet resignation. There is no bitterness—only wistful acceptance. The diction is personal, direct, and unembellished, giving the poem a confessional immediacy, as though written spontaneously on a lonely morning.
The refrain “Happy birthday, Laly” functions both as blessing and lament—its repetition underscores affection while also echoing futility, like a whispered prayer that travels unanswered across time zones.
IV. Structure and Style
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The poem is free verse, allowing thought and emotion to flow organically, mirroring memory’s nonlinear nature.
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The rhythm is conversational, though occasionally elevated by metaphoric flourishes (“bump up from gravity,” “impregnate your thoughts”).
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The frequent use of first-person intimacy draws the reader into the emotional landscape, transforming a private message into a universal meditation on separation.
V. Interpretation
Ultimately, “Laly’s Birthday” is about the persistence of affection amid impermanence. Each birthday marks both celebration and loss—a reminder of another year gone without reunion. The poem’s understated tragedy lies in its recognition that love may endure even when presence does not.
Laly’s birthday becomes an annual epiphany: the realization that time keeps moving, but emotional truth remains fixed. The poem captures that haunting paradox of modern love—to be connected by memory, yet divided by reality.
VI. Concluding Reflection
“To tell you that all I have is this poem in a song / & I wish you a happy birthday, Laly.”
This closing sentiment distills the poem’s emotional core: love expressed through art when touch and presence are denied. The speaker’s voice is neither bitter nor self-pitying—it is reverent, tender, and human.
In that sense, “Laly’s Birthday” is not just a personal dedication but a universal elegy for all missed connections, all the people we love from afar, and all the moments we celebrate alone.
Would you like me to create a comparative analysis next — exploring how “Laly’s Birthday” and “Kissing a Saint” relate thematically (for instance, both treating Laly as a sacred or transformative figure)? That could illuminate how the poems form a cohesive emotional narrative.
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