Happy 13th - May 13 2023

 

Happy 13th

May 13 2023

13.

A Bar Mitzvah boy.

Baker's dozen.

Prime number.

Which might delight a mathematician

but makes it hard to celebrate;

just try dividing a cake

13 ways

and keeping it fair.

So who knows

why 13 is bad luck.

A day

when sensible people hunker down.

And god forbid

a black cat should cross your path,

ladder

block the way,

mirror shatter.

This May, it falls on a Saturday;

missed Friday

by that much.

And contrarians like me

who scoff at superstition

and tempt fate.

After all, why should Friday be different?

And the elevator

that skips 13

still stops at a 13th floor.

1 of 30 born

on that fateful day.

So how special do they feel

having defied the odds?

And what are we to think of them,

the cohort

of the 13th day,

hiding among us

in plain sight?

I wish them all

a happy birthday

whatever month they celebrate.

But most of all

those turning 13

on the 13th day,

at the witching hour

in the dark of night

at the stroke of 12 am.

Good fortune and good cheer

on this day you entered the world

for good.