The problem is love

I don’t know how to do life without my parents in it
that is the problem I have come to realize
so now I have to figure out how
after fifty-seven years

I knew I would have to
give myself the love that is missing

And have tried to do that
yet it's been an arduous task

And I realize the truth
that I feel I have never been loved
not truly or without conditions
only from them

So there is a gap
in trying to provide myself the love that is missing
and expecting no one else to ever fill the void

The books will tell you
one must be happy alone
one must love themselves
one cannot expect another to fill the emptiness

and I am trying