Solo Celebration Poem by Wendy Bureau

Another of life’s milestone
Another solo celebration
Head hung with heavy eyes
Dripping drops of congratulations

Surrounded, not embraced
Immediate family at my side
Poking jokes, or silent
Proud less of praise and faked pride

As a young girl, I dreamt
Of frolicking fantasy, far fetched
An escape into freedom
Reality's mark, forcibly etched

No dream stone left unturned
I've chiseled years of daydream cement
Determined to make good
Of lifelong tragedy and lament

From bottom of the barrel
Contemplating failure, giving up
As if from somewhere came the will
Overflowing, optimism’s cup

Reluctant, yet I sipped
Gulping, gaining own self respect
Determination saturated, grew
So profound, simplistic, easy to detect

A life’s duration, yet unwritten
Blanken’d page projecting, without prose
An unforeseeable future resides
My destined calling, I, exposed