Without

You ask me
what I cannot live without.

Trite answers filter up
but the truth revealed
upon examination
is that I can live
without most things
and without most people.

I am a product of having gone without.

What I am today is
strength born
of weak moments
when no one helped me to my feet.

Determination created
of graceless times
when others told me failure was mine.

Honesty honed
by faithless fires
when loved ones yielded to their demons.

I cannot imagine
what I would be
had I not been tried
by the things and people
that once had me
that I have since done without.

The better question is
what cannot live without me.

_____
Copyright 2014 Femme Malheureuse
@ApparatusMag #NaPoMo 2014 Prompt 12
Graphic: David Singleton via Flickr