Birthday Wish

I’m your beautiful birthday girl,

all wrapped up in a bow,

waiting to be undone,

leaning against my garden wall,

waiting for a kiss that never comes,

because we live in a lockdown world,

where loneliness is the only constant,

no contact is the contract we sign,

for some faraway fantasy of eventual freedom.

I dream of you,

every time I close my eyes,

and often when they are open,

held tight in your arms,

captured by your soft kiss,

unwrapped and unravelling,

as I stand alone in the kitchen,

candles lit, only to lose their flames,

so I can exchange the warmth for a wish.

Could you wrap me up in a birthday kiss?

Soft and slow,

the way you kiss me when I’m in your car,

and we are parked outside my house,

trying to think of a reason not to part.

That’s the only gift I need.