She entered the world not as a child,
But as a silent promise.
She arrived, excited and proud to be the firstborn
She walked beside her father like a shadow of strength,
And beside her mother like a whisper of grace.
A perfect storm made of both worlds.
But fate, as always, had its own script.
As the years turned,
The crown of being “the eldest”
Grew heavier than she could ever confess.
She imagined responsibility to be power—
But instead, it was sacrifice
Dressed like duty.
She grew into a beautiful teenager,
But slowly, quietly,
Her parents’ eyes began to drift
Toward the little girl who came after her.
Not out of love lost,
But love multiplied.
Yet multiplication sometimes feels like division
To the one who came first.
And so she began to fade
In the corners of her own home.
She told herself she was fine.
She told herself she was strong.
Then life began to show it’s challenges
Confusion, anxiety, the weight of choices.
Sometimes she faced them head-on,
Sometimes she hid from them.
Her parents were busy,
Drowning in their own battles.
So she swallowed her questions,
Locked her fears,
And carried on.
When the world grew too sharp,
She spilled herself into her diary—
Ink replacing tears,
Pages replacing a friend she didn’t have.
In her fantasy stories, she was fierce,
In her poems, she was limitless.
She created worlds where she wasn’t the eldest,
Wasn’t the example,
Wasn’t the sacrifice—
Just a girl who could finally breathe.
And then came a real friend,
A rare one—
The kind who listened.
Being with her made the weight of being “the firstborn” invisible
She wanted to break free,
To rewrite her own destiny.
But every time she tried,
Life reminded her:
You are the eldest.
You do not get to walk away.
You carry the family first.
Her parents had sacrificed so much for her.
And she?
She sacrificed her dreams for them.
But still she hopes.
Still she dares to dream
In the secret corners of her heart.
She moves through life with quiet bravery,
Praying that one day
Her sacrifices will turn into wings
And everything will finally,
Finally
Be just fine…..
HEPHZI AGNES P
I AI & DS 1
