Sweet 16 Birthday Poems

Sweet 16 Birthday Poems is the web page for rhymes about the birthday that falls between the ages of 15 and 17 called sweet because of a poem that was published more than one and a half centuries ago (1840, to be precise). It has over the years been used in many songs and in the expression 'sweet sixteen and never been kissed'

This was the first song to use the expression .. "When You Were Sweet Sixteen" by James Thornton, published in 1898 but the expression was first used in print by poet Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894) in his poem 'The Dilemma' in 1840. The poem follows later.

May your 16th Birthday be happy
Let your Sweet 16th be fun
By law, (I think) your 16th is required to be

An extra special one.

As a law abiding citizen, I'll see that it is

Jon Bratton 2012

**

Reaching 16 is a milestone,
A happy point in life.
You've set your personality
And your tolerance for strife.

By now you know right from wrong
And how to influence friends.
It’s time to look down the road
At forks and around the bends.

The road ahead is wonderful,
Some choices will be clear.
Your path depends on bravery
To push aside the fear.

When you chose this way or that,
Slow choices or if snappy,
Make the choices best for you,
The ones that make you happy.

by haz
(A contribution from a visitor to this site..thank you haz)

Sweet 16 Birthday Poems

It seems like only yesterday
You were a babe in my arms
Now you're a lady, sweet 16,
With brains, beauty, good sense and charms
I couldn't have loved you more
When you were born, my very own
And I couldn't love you more now
You're a beautiful woman, full grown
Happy, happy birthday, my sweet

Jon Bratton 2012

**

Today's the day we've waited for
You're not our baby anymore
You've turned into a beauty queen
Happy birthday sweet sixteen

Sweet 16 Birthday Poems

Every girl waits for this day
With hopes and dreams in her eyes
And after every year a mother cheers
Recalling the birth day of her prize
Every mother waits for this day
The day her daughter can drive a car
This is the time to celebrate
Her life journey, she's come so far

God is thanked in many prayers
For bringing a daughter and a friend
And this is the year of her sweet sixteen
A woman, at childhood's end
This is the day to celebrate and cheer
For her happiness, clearly seen
And the happiness she gives everyone
Happy Birthday, Sweet Sixteen.

Jon Bratton 2012
(Based on a poem of dubious quality and unclaimed copyright)

Sweet 16 Birthday Poems

Happy Birthday (Susie)
You're now on the adult scene
Say goodbye to the kiddie stuff
Happy Birthday sweet sixteen

Jon Bratton 2010

**

What happened to that funny face?
Our little tomboy now wears satin and lace
Before our eyes you've become a teenage dream
Happy birthday sweet sixteen

Sweet 16 Birthday Poems

A very happy birthday
Our fairy princess is now a queen
Enjoy the coming teenage years
Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen

Jon Bratton 2010

**

The lyrics adapted, if from a parent or relative or friend

Lips like strawberry wine
Skin like peaches and cream
You're sixteen
Just like a dream
You're beautiful
Like a queen

Eyes that sparkle and shine
You're all ribbons and curls
You're sixteen
Ooh, what a girl
Hope your birthday
Is a blast and a whirl

Sweet 16 Birthday Poems

If as a love poem, the lyrics can be left as in the song, originally recorded by Johnny Burnette

You're my baby, you're my pet,
We fell in love on the night we met.
You touched my hand, my heart went pop,
Ooh, when we kissed, i could not stop.

You walked out of my dreams, into my arms,
Now you're my angel divine.
You're sixteen, you're beautiful, and you're mine.

You're my baby, you're my pet,
We fell in love on the night we met.
You touched my hand, my heart went pop,
Ooh, when we kissed, i could not stop.

You walked out of my dreams, into my car,
Now you're my angel divine.
You're sixteen, you're beautiful, and you're mine.
All mine, all mine, all mine.

Happy, happy birthday

Sweet 16 Birthday Poems

Since you've grown up, your future is sewn up
You've flowered before our very eyes
It doesn't come as a great surprise
That you're the prettiest to be seen
Happy birthday sweet sixteen

Sweet 16 Birthday Poems

THE DILEMMA

by: Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894)

Now, by the blessed Paphian queen,
Who heaves the breast of sweet sixteen;
By every name I cut on bark
Before my morning star grew dark;
By Hymen's torch, by Cupid's dart,
By all that thrills the beating heart;
The bright black eye, the melting blue,--
I cannot choose between the two.

I had a vision in my dreams;--
I saw a row of twenty beams;
From every beam a rope was hung,
In every rope a lover swung;
I asked the hue of every eye
That bade each luckless lover die;
Ten shadowy lips said, heavenly blue,
And ten accused the darker hue.

I asked a matron which she deemed
With fairest light of beauty beamed;
She answered, some thought both were fair,--
Give her blue eyes and golden hair.
I might have liked her judgment well,
But, as she spoke, she rung the bell,
And all her girls, nor small nor few,
Came marching in, -- their eyes were blue.

I asked a maiden; back she flung
The locks that round her forehead hung,
And turned her eye, a glorious one,
Bright as a diamond in the sun,
On me, until beneath its rays I felt as if my hair would blaze;
She liked all eyes but eyes of green;
She looked at me; what could she mean?

Ah! many lids Love lurks between,
Nor heeds the coloring of his screen;
And when his random arrows fly,
The victim falls, but knows not why.
Gaze not upon his shield of jet,
The shaft upon the string is set;
Look not beneath his azure veil,
Though every limb were cased in mail.

Well, both might make a martyr break
The chain that bound him to the stake;
And both, with but a single ray,
Can melt our very hearts away;
And both, when balanced, hardly seem
To stir the scales, or rock the beam;
But that is dearest, all the while,
That wears for us the sweetest smile.

(Paphian of or relating to Paphos, a Cypriot city held to be the birthplace of Aphrodite, the goddess of love who is sometimes referred to as The Paphian queen)

Sweet 16 Birthday Poems

This one is a rap written by Dana Gilmore. The YouTube video of her performing her work follows and it is very powerful...but it is a hard hitting piece about a 16 year old deprived girl, sexually abused as a child. If you are not a broad minded adult do not watch the video. Otherwise do, because it is a wonderful graphic poem, sections of which, follow

She’s been locked up, knocked up, and hurt before
She’s been cheated, treated like dirt before....
...Sixteen years old with a pinch to grow on.
Cause papa was a rolling stone and mama stayed stoned...
...I got somebody I want y’all to meet.
Her name is ms. sixteen.
She’s so young and so sweet.
So Innocent. So naive. So pretty. So tender....
I guess nobody saw the bigger picture.
Nobody cared that she would grow up and be bitter.
Maybe face the same dilemma,
And sing the same blues...
...I wish I could have took her place,
And she could have been me,
With Easy Bake Ovens, Lite Brights, and Barbies,
A new bike, fake makeup, play dress up, play Atari,
Stay up late, pop popcorn, watch movies, tell stories,
Live life without a care or a worry in the world...
...But she was not...toys like Rubik’s cube and etch a sketch didn’t exist.
And she doesn’t smile when she talks about her first kiss

Dana Gilmore

Sweet 16 Birthday Poems

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