Celebrate again on the first of March

In the split second of midnight

As the twenty-ninth disappears

Into Big Ben's extra tick

As the maturing thirties arrive

With a bouncing boy

Breezing into one-o-one [1]

With the joys of another beginning

Remembered with joy, again and again

By the time-keepers of accuracy. [2]

Farewell to the past, slow-moving but unforgotten

As the land of precise timing [3]

Opens its arms with welcoming hour-hands

And he leaps positively into the years of the future.

1 March 2006.

The day after a celebration of André's birthday, remembering his midnight watch between 28th February and 1st March as a child, and this year's 'leap second' clock adjustment as the earth slows down.

[1] André has a weekly breakfast with his mother at Café 101 each Thursday morning.

[2]  His parents know when he was born!

[3] André is relocating to Geneva within the month.