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).