PoemsPoems for birthdays and festivals
A four or eight line poem makes a card feel made by hand. These are for birthdays, anniversaries and festivals. Add the name at the top and yours at the bottom.
English
Birthday Verse
Another candle, one more year, a little wiser, still as dear. May all the things you hope for most arrive on time, like morning toast.
ShareYourGroupFor a Friend's Birthday
I could have bought a costly gift with ribbon, card and bow. Instead I bring these crooked lines and all the years I owe: the lunches shared, the secrets kept, the calls at half past two. The gift is small. The thanks is not. Happy birthday, you.
ShareYourGroupAnniversary
Two toothbrushes in a cup, two cups of tea at dawn, one blanket fought for every night, one life to lean upon. The years have greyed a hair or two and softened every fight. You chose each other long ago. You're choosing still. Tonight.
ShareYourGroupDiwali Night
A row of lamps along the wall, a rangoli beside the door, the smell of ghee, a cousin's call, new clothes, and sweets, and then some more. But best of all the lights we light is one no shop has ever sold: the whole house home on Diwali night, the young, the middle and the old.
ShareYourGroupNew Year
The calendar is new and clean. The page says January one. I do not promise to be great. I promise that I'll get things done: one walk, one book, one kinder word, one phone call home each week. Small things, repeated through the year, will be the change I seek.
ShareYourGroupFor a Parent's Birthday
You counted all my birthdays first, The candles and the years. You kept the cards I made in school, The drawings and the tears. Today the cake is yours to cut. I cannot count as well. I only know each year you've lived Is one more I can tell.
ShareYourGroupRakhi
A thread of red, a grain of rice, A sweet I did not share. You tied it tight around my wrist, And tied me to your care. We fought that evening, as we do. The thread stayed on all week. Some promises are made out loud. The best ones do not speak.
ShareYourGroupHousewarming
Four walls are just four walls, they say, Until the tea is made, Until a child has marked the door And shoes are overlaid. May this house fill with noise and guests And rain upon the pane. May everyone who leaves this door Be glad to come again.
ShareYourGroup
हिन्दी
जन्मदिन
फूलों सी महके ज़िंदगानी, तारों सी चमके हर शाम। जन्मदिन पर यही दुआ है: ख़ुशियाँ हों बस आपके नाम।
ShareYourGroupदिवाली
दीप जले हैं द्वार द्वार पर, आँगन में रंगोली है। मिठाई की थाली सजी है, हँसी ख़ुशी की टोली है। एक दीया उनके भी नाम का जिनके घर अँधियारा है। बाँट सको तो ख़ुशियाँ बाँटो, यही त्योहार हमारा है।
ShareYourGroupराखी
कच्चे धागे की यह डोरी, पक्के रिश्ते की पहचान। बहन बाँधे, भाई निभाए, यही राखी का है मान। दूर रहो या पास रहो तुम, यह बंधन न टूटेगा। बचपन की उन लड़ाइयों का मीठा क़िस्सा न छूटेगा।
ShareYourGroupनया साल
नया साल है, नई सुबह है, नए इरादे साथ लिए। बीते कल की भूल भुलाकर चलो नई शुरुआत किए। थोड़ा पढ़ना, थोड़ा चलना, थोड़ा अपनों से मिलना। छोटे छोटे क़दमों से ही सीखेंगे फिर से खिलना।
ShareYourGroupसालगिरह
बरसों पहले हाथ थामा था, आज भी वैसे थामे हैं। कुछ बाल सफ़ेद हुए हैं बस, बाक़ी वैसे के वैसे हैं। चाय आज भी साथ ही पीते, झगड़ा आज भी होता है। शादी इसी का नाम है शायद: साथ हँसना, साथ रोना है।
ShareYourGroupहोली
रंग गुलाल उड़े आँगन में, भीगे सबके गाल। जो रूठे थे, वे भी आए, मलने लगे गुलाल। गुझिया की थाली घूमे, ढोलक पर है ताल। होली ऐसा पर्व है जिसमें मिट जाते हैं मलाल।
ShareYourGroup
ਪੰਜਾਬੀ
ਲੋਹੜੀ
ਲੋਹੜੀ ਆਈ, ਧੂਣੀ ਬਾਲੋ, ਰਿਉੜੀਆਂ ਤੇ ਤਿਲ ਪਾਓ। ਢੋਲ ਵੱਜੇ, ਭੰਗੜੇ ਪੈਣ, ਸਾਰੇ ਰਲ ਕੇ ਖੁਸ਼ੀ ਮਨਾਓ। ਨਵੀਂ ਵਹੁਟੀ, ਨਵਾਂ ਜੰਮਿਆ, ਘਰ ਘਰ ਵਿੱਚ ਵਧਾਈਆਂ ਹੋਣ। ਠੰਢ ਨੂੰ ਆਖੋ: ਹੁਣ ਤੂੰ ਜਾ, ਨਿੱਘੇ ਦਿਨ ਹੁਣ ਆਉਂਦੇ ਹੋਣ।
ShareYourGroupਵਿਸਾਖੀ
ਕਣਕਾਂ ਪੱਕੀਆਂ, ਸੋਨਾ ਬਣੀਆਂ, ਜੱਟ ਦੇ ਚਿਹਰੇ ਖਿੜੇ। ਢੋਲ ਵੱਜਿਆ, ਭੰਗੜਾ ਪਾਇਆ, ਮੇਲੇ ਦੇ ਵੱਲ ਤੁਰੇ। ਵਿਸਾਖੀ ਦਾ ਦਿਨ ਚੜ੍ਹਿਆ, ਖ਼ੁਸ਼ੀਆਂ ਵੰਡਦੇ ਜਾਈਏ। ਮਿਹਨਤ ਦਾ ਫਲ ਘਰ ਆਇਆ, ਸ਼ੁਕਰ ਰੱਬ ਦਾ ਗਾਈਏ।
ShareYourGroupਜਨਮਦਿਨ
ਜੁਗ ਜੁਗ ਜੀਵੇਂ, ਹੱਸਦਾ ਰਹੇਂ, ਵੱਸਦਾ ਰਹੇ ਤੇਰਾ ਵਿਹੜਾ। ਹਰ ਸਾਲ ਆਵੇ ਖ਼ੁਸ਼ੀਆਂ ਲੈ ਕੇ ਜਨਮਦਿਨ ਇਹ ਤੇਰਾ।
ShareYourGroupਰੱਖੜੀ
ਭੈਣ ਨੇ ਬੰਨ੍ਹੀ ਰੱਖੜੀ, ਵੀਰ ਦੇ ਗੁੱਟ ਤੇ ਸੱਜੀ। ਧਾਗਾ ਭਾਵੇਂ ਕੱਚਾ ਹੈ, ਪਰ ਗੰਢ ਪਿਆਰ ਦੀ ਪੱਕੀ। ਦੂਰ ਵਸੇਂ ਜਾਂ ਨੇੜੇ ਵੀਰਾ, ਸੁਖੀ ਵਸੇਂ ਤੂੰ ਸਦਾ। ਭੈਣ ਦੀ ਬੱਸ ਇਹੋ ਅਰਦਾਸ, ਇਹੋ ਉਹਦੀ ਦੁਆ।
ShareYourGroup
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A poem in a card
Printed cards say the same thing to everyone. Four lines in your own handwriting say it to one person. Copy the poem on the left side of the card or on a separate slip, write the person's name above it, and sign below. Leave space around the lines. If your handwriting is poor, write slowly in capital letters or print the poem and add one handwritten sentence underneath. The handwritten sentence is the part they will keep.
Make it personal in one line
- Birthdays: put the age or the year into the verse, or swap one line for a memory of the year gone by.
- Anniversaries: name the number of years, and one habit the couple is known for.
- Diwali, Rakhi, Lohri: mention the home where the family gathers, or the person who will be missed this year.
- New Year: add one hope that is particular to the person, such as the exam, the new house or the baby.
Reading it at the gathering
At a birthday or anniversary dinner, a short poem read before the cake is cut gives the evening a centre. Stand up, say whom it is for, read slowly, and raise your glass or your hands at the end. Eight lines are the most a party will listen to. Children can do this very well, and a grandchild's reading is usually the high point of a grandparent's birthday.
Sending it on the phone
Use the Copy or WhatsApp button, and add the person's name before the first line. Send it as a personal message, not in a large group, and early in the day. A poem that arrives before the flood of forwards is the one that gets read. For plain wishes without verse, see Wishes.
Good to know
- In a card, a four line poem is enough. Leave white space around it.