streamers reflect the smiles of everyone in the room.
happiness is cascading throughout the frosting in the cake.
diamonds glisten from the tiara on the young girls face.
her teeth are pearls, white and shining.
joy is emanating from her smile,
pure elation and glory.
people are urging her to blow out exactly  sixteen candles.
one for every
hardship, success, death, life, idea she has ever witnessed.
people are urging her to blow out exactly    sixteen candles.
“make a wish!” they shout.
tears are brimming her eyes.
that candle was her grandpa, now far, far away.
that one was for her first “a” in math….
that one was for her first love, and then her first breakup.
her fifteenth was for her newborn brother.
the last one was for the people who would enter
exit and
change her life spontaneously .
“it’s quite peculiar how we are born with nobody, but leave the world needing somebody…” she thinks as she blows the last one out.
nothing but gratefulness is cast along her face.