So much of what I hoped to be
has been torn away
in these years of struggle.

Not like old skin, 
whose tiny dry fragments
helpfully disperse,

These pieces of my self 
went differently,
before use, and without replacement.

And when we perceive ourselves
we are not what we are
but also what we were and what we will be
and all of these are missing pieces now.

It has an obvious solution:
To find new pieces
at least to fix the future,
but oh how hard it is
when so much is gone.