expectations

expect the punches to never cease

& learn to fight---

expect the fight to get harder & to

drag on for what seems like forever

&

learn to persist---

expect the persistence to become habit

& practice patience on the path---

expect patience to seem odd to others,

to be deemed a freak, to be written off

as “someone trying to be something”

& study the way you get scrutinized,

watch how you get set underneath

every microscope---

expect such study to be criminalized,

expect to be scapegoated, expect to be

lectured, expect to be threatened

&

use it all to fight back,

use it all to persist,

use it all to strengthen your patient resolve

&

use it all in your individual study

(learning from your own mistakes &

observing those of others in order to avoid

them yourself).