**Another year around the sun,**
**for me, a journey’s far from fun.**
**The candles flicker, the faces cheer,**
**Yet inside, drowning in fear.**
**Three hundred sixty-five days, a feat,**
**A race I ran with weary feet.**
**They call it triumph, a battle won,**
**I wonder softly, a look of stun**
**An angel descended, soft and bright,**
**Her presence casting a gentle light.**
**I whispered low, my heart in pain,**
**_“Only friends and family keep me chained.”_**
**She smiled, her eyes a knowing sea,**
**_“Perhaps this place is not your destiny._**
**_Take my hand, we’ll wander far,_**
**_Beyond the sorrow, past every scar.”_**
**But I held on tight to the fleeting day,**
**_“What of the love that begs me to stay?”_**
**She paused, her wings a silver glow,**
**_“Love is a tether, but peace you must know.”_**
**_“There’s strength,”_**** she whispered, ****_“in holding tight,_**
**_But more in seeking your own true light._**
**_It isn’t death that makes pain cease,_**
**_It’s finding a way to make your peace.”_**
**And so I stood, between two doors,**
**One of shadows, one of shores.**
**The night grew long, the air grew still,**
**A choice was mine, of strength or will.**
**I’ll walk this road one step, one breath,**
**A fragile dance with life and death.**
**For birthdays mark not just the years,**
**But every triumph, every tear.**
**So light the candles, let them burn,**
**A flame for each lesson I have learned.**
**For even when my heart feels weak,**
**There’s hope in every word I speak.**
