A Vow Beneath the Crowd

On New Year’s Eve the city buzzed like sparkling wine, bright glasses clinked, a thousand doors

said mine. Invitations bloomed like fireworks in air— come dance,

come drink, come lose yourself somewhere. I tried on futures as if trying on

a dress: a midnight kiss from strangers, a reckless yes; a table loud with

friends and borrowed cheer, the glittered promise of another year. But hope,

that quiet animal in me, curled by the window, patient as the sea. Your name arrived

the way a prayer is sent— unasked, insistent, and gently permanent.

You are my north, though sometimes it gets lost in snow, God-sent confusion