By: Brenda Carol Aiello

Birthdays were meant to be happy

For some lucky people they are
 

But when you're adopted and searching

You can only dream or wish on a star
 

Who can go through life not knowing

Only an adoptee can tell you that
 

Holding back fears and tears from showing

Searching desperately for just one fact
 

She looks like her, he looks like him

Traits passed on are treated as wealth
 

Where you come from a forbidden issue

Crucial information, ethnicity and health
 

Laws prevent me knowing my identity

With no care for the tears I have wept
 

To appease someone's guilt and common good

I've been told that is why it was kept
 

The outcome are minds much disturbed

It takes years to deal with and face
 

Deprived the one luxury I seek in this life

Which for others it seems common place
 

Forsaken, unloved and unknown in the world

Stripped of my rights to just be
 

Who I'm born of and with whom I could be sharing a life

Because I am just an Adoptee