Classic poems · sourced quotes
Quotes & Poems

Birthday poems and card verses

Updated

A few good lines in a birthday card are worth more than a long message. On this page you'll find short card verses we wrote ourselves - for mum, a friend, a husband or wife - plus two famous classic poems that are often quoted on birthdays. Our verses are labelled "Original - Quotes and Poems" and are free to copy into a personal card.

Short birthday verses for a card

A quick verse that fits inside any card - swap in a name if you like. There are more for mum, friends and partners below.

Candles, cake and someone near
who's glad you're in the world:
that's all a birthday needs.
Happy birthday, from me.

Original - Quotes and Poems

Birthday poems for mum

For Mum

You packed the lunches, patched the knees,
found the lost shoe and the missing keys.
The thanks are years and years overdue:
happy birthday, Mum - with love, from me to you.

Original - Quotes and Poems

The Kitchen Table

Everything I know that matters
I learned at your kitchen table:
share the last slice,
say sorry first,
leave the door open.
Happy birthday, Mum.

Original - Quotes and Poems

If your mum loves classic poetry, Christina Rossetti's "A Birthday" (below) is a lovely one to copy out by hand - though it is really a love poem, as the note explains.

Birthday poems for a friend

Every Season

Some friends are for a season;
you've stayed through every one -
through snow and wind and falling leaves,
and here we are, in sun.

Original - Quotes and Poems

For more, see our friendship poems.

Birthday poems for a husband or wife

Again

I'd choose you on the busy days,
the burnt toast and the rain;
and if I had it all to do,
I'd do it all again.

Original - Quotes and Poems

For something more romantic, any of the short poems on our love poems page will fit in a card - Shakespeare's Sonnet 18 or Burns's "A Red, Red Rose" are favourites.

Famous birthday poems

"A Birthday" - Christina Rossetti

Goblin Market and Other Poems, 1862

My heart is like a singing bird
Whose nest is in a watered shoot;
My heart is like an apple-tree
Whose boughs are bent with thickset fruit;
My heart is like a rainbow shell
That paddles in a halcyon sea;
My heart is gladder than all these
Because my love is come to me.

Raise me a dais of silk and down;
Hang it with vair and purple dyes;
Carve it in doves, and pomegranates,
And peacocks with a hundred eyes;
Work it in gold and silver grapes,
In leaves, and silver fleurs-de-lys;
Because the birthday of my life
Is come, my love is come to me.

What it's about: Despite the title, this is not about a birthday party. The speaker is so happy that the person they love has come that they call it "the birthday of my life" - the day her real life begins. ("Vair" is a kind of fur used in old decorations; "halcyon" means calm.) It makes a beautiful card for a partner, an anniversary or a wedding. More on our Christina Rossetti page.

Milestone birthdays

"Rabbi Ben Ezra" (opening stanza) - Robert Browning

Dramatis Personae, 1864

Grow old along with me!
The best is yet to be,
The last of life, for which the first was made:
Our times are in His hand
Who saith "A whole I planned,
Youth shows but half; trust God: see all, nor be afraid!"

What it's about: Browning's speaker argues that old age is not a decline but the point of the whole journey - youth is only half the story. The first two lines, "Grow old along with me! / The best is yet to be", are a favourite for 50th, 60th and later birthdays and for anniversaries. The stanza continues with a religious idea, so many people quote just those first two lines.

Sixty

Sixty candles - stand well back!
But here's the thing the candles lack:
they burn down as the evening goes.
You don't. You just get more of you.

Original - Quotes and Poems

How to write your own birthday verse

  1. Start with one real detail. A habit, a phrase they always say, a place you went together. "You packed the lunches" says more than "you're the best".
  2. Keep it to two or four lines. Cards are small, and short verses are easier to get right.
  3. Rhyme only if it comes easily. A forced rhyme sounds worse than none. Half-rhymes (knees / keys) are fine.
  4. End on the person, not the birthday. The last line is the one they'll remember.
  5. Read it aloud once. If you stumble, cut a word.

Need a shorter classic line instead? Try our short poems.

FAQ

What is a famous birthday poem?

Christina Rossetti's "A Birthday" (Goblin Market and Other Poems, 1862) is the best-known poem with "birthday" in the title. In plain English, it celebrates "the birthday of my life" - the day love arrives - rather than a birthday party.

What can I write in a birthday card for mum?

Try one of our short verses above, such as "For Mum" or "The Kitchen Table" (each labelled "Original - Quotes and Poems"), or copy a classic line with its source, for example "Grow old along with me! / The best is yet to be" - Robert Browning, "Rabbi Ben Ezra" (1864).

Can I copy these verses into a card?

Yes. The classic poems are in the public domain, and our original verses may be used in personal cards. Please don't print them on products for sale without asking us first. See our terms of use.

Sources

Not the former quotesandpoems.com - an independent collection of public-domain poems and original writing.