Your Worst Birthday

Another year marked, but the calendar's cruel,

a birthday of silence, a weight like a rule.

Scrolling through photos, their smiles are bright,

yet here in this quiet, I fade out of sight.

A fraying hat rests, untouched in the dust,

each candle unlit, every wish gone to rust.

The echoes of parties, the joy once unmasked,

years slip through my fingers, in shadows, I bask.