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Poetry is your heart dancing with joy and sadness, laughter and tears.
Happy Birthday
Dr. Seuss
"If we didn’t have birthdays,
you wouldn’t be you.
If you’d never been born,
well then what would you do?
If you’d never been born,
well then what would you be?
You might be a fish!
Or a toad in a tree!
You might be a doorknob!
Or three baked potatoes!
You might be a bag full of
hard green tomatoes."
"Or worse than all that…
Why, you might be a WASN’T!
A Wasn’t has no fun at all.
No, he doesn’t.
A Wasn’t just isn’t.
He just isn’t present.
But you…You ARE YOU!
And, now isn’t that pleasant!"
"Today you are you!
That is truer than true!
There is no one alive...
...who is you-er than you!
Shout loud, “I am lucky
to be what I am!
Thank goodness I’m not
just a clam or a ham
Or a dusty old jar of
sour gooseberry jam!
I am what I am! That’s a
great thing to be!
If I say so myself,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!"
I interviewed my sister Anna and she chose the poem “Happy birthday to you!” by Dr. Seuss. Here is just one part of the full story. She likes this poem because it is very imaginative and funny. When it is your birthday, many crazy things happen, for example you can pat all the pets you want to pat. She likes how it is set in a fictional world and there is a big parade to celebrate whoever’s birthday it is which makes them feel special. She likes the very last rhyme on the last verse that says, “Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive that is youer than you!”. This tells us everyone’s unique. Here the whole poem: