grounded, focused

have to have had nothing
to appreciate something,
have to have had something
to know all you can lose,
have to know what can be lost,
in order to preserve,
have to preserve & sustain
so as to survive amidst the vultures,
have to know the vultures by the
way they wait,
have to wait & watch the eyes
staring back at you,
have to learn how to stare, have to
learn how to pull punches,
so as to keep cool when disaster comes &
operate accordingly.