I decided that school
was not a place to learn
and I made a mess of
every part of my self
that mattered to me
still scraped through
university still an option
scraped through that too
and for many years survived
in the only way I knew how
graft and grind was the way
punched more holes in my health
tried to ignore health and learning
in equal measure doing
me wrong again and again
in mid-life began to learn
for real this time a do-over
only to find paper obsolete
before it was received
after three years of input
final shot as I get older
this time strengthening
not a complete blank sheet
dreams are much smaller
happy to own improvement
Fraser
February 2025