like a toothache

ever felt like...
life was not so tough as to tell you you were alive through the pain
nor were you loved enough by who you wanted love from
or were looking in the wrong places for such care so as
not to make you feel warm enough to know your heart still beats
ever felt like admitting defeat

but did not
because hope forbade you to and asked you to live
a life which you were not content but could not be rid
of this life or the bland taste that each day came
to fill the mind and drive the heart to a numb insane
and at any moment you felt you could cave

have you ever felt this way
and continued to live?