Earned

I wish I could tell you

that I pulled it all from nothing

but that would be 

the furthest 

from the truth

I have wept,

lost friends,

drank bottles until the corks

turned to dust,

and bled alone

and afraid

in the dark,

and in the wild.

I wish I could tell you 

that I wrote it all from imagination

But I didn't. 

I earned it.