Happy happy birthday Chris!!!!

                           Destined

To me--
                    because I love you--
A narrow shaft of light falls
          through the maze of things mundane,
It falls through all those multitudes of grey--
                    grey people
                              grey ideas
                                        grey errands
          to find your particular head.

To me, perhaps because I love you,
          there has always been
                    a something.

And I wonder if you see it too
          like a birthmark
                    when you pass a mirror.
Do you see its actual weight in the tilt of your head?
Or do you feel it like a needlesome presence,
                    like a prickly tag in your collar
                              or a snagged sleeve?

Or is it more like a dove
                              perched nonchalantly on your shoulder--
          its breath, its soft coo, its gentle luck,
                    your own amulet.
Does it make your ready laugh
                                        easy, false--or brave?

Because I love you
                   I have seen it from the start--
                              that thing that marks you.
                                        that sets you apart.

And, because I love you,
          I see it plain,
                    with hope and dread in equal measure.