Birthday’s Ego

A boy’s ego caught itself
standing before the mirror on birth’s yearly day,
a day’s joyous, and not so joyous, reunion with the past,
looking at yet another drifting ebb as aging tides bided their time…
for the moment.

Seeing beyond the obvious,
Ego turned away from more impending broken residuals,
all while the boy’s waning awareness succumbed to
more fading pleasures and the down-the-road fog of senility.

How slow the drifting.

His own remote island shore strewn
with the flotsam of yesterday’s history,
the remainder of Mistakes' endless storms.

In its momentary repose,
try as reflection might to project a sparkle here,
perhaps a treasure there,
there remained only the lost wanderer
repeatedly deluding himself
that his life was destined be a paradise in the sun.

Likeness engaged Reflection’s honesty,
knowing stubborn pride would likely persevere
until his next birthday.

After all…

Would not an additional candle
more brightly illuminate Ego’s birthday-mirror?