**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.**