HEY 2026

The year arrives without knocking,

like it always does.

It carries nothing

but a blank face

and the weight

of what I didn’t finish.

I stand here,

older than last year,

wiser in ways

I never asked to learn,

holding memories

that refuse to stay in the past.

Some dreams grew tired.

Some promises dissolved quietly,

like sugar in hot coffee

sweet once,

invisible now.

I learned that survival

is not loud.

It looks like getting up anyway,

like breathing through days

that didn’t ask how I was doing.

I learned that strength

sometimes means stopping,

and courage

can be as small

as choosing to stay.

This year,

I don’t ask to be new.

I ask to be gentler with myself.

To carry less guilt.

To forgive the versions of me

that were only trying to cope.

If hope comes,

I will welcome it softly.

If it doesn’t,

I will still walk forward.

Because even now,

with all the cracks,

I am still here

and that,

for tonight,

is enough.