the need to reprogram
should not be confused
with the need
for self love
when the fault
in the calibration
is not a sign of what
we have lacked internally
but of what has been
extracted
and what has been
withheld

with the stress
of the external environment
being what brings us
to extinction
or catalyzes us
to evolve

so that the love of self
cannot be appraised
by external measures
of what we display

of happy
but rather only defined
by the resilience
in the heart

whatever it means
that happy is
I'm still here