Dear Graduates,

An entire class of walking portraits,
emerging selves eclipsed by worried dreams
shuffling through illusionary thresholds,
initiated by the anxiety of insecure authority
governing by mandate
while still teaching through sleepless hearts.

A world of wild dreams chase you,
untouched and promising, your lips speak of a
relevance somewhere between the safety of naivety
and the dark truth of responsibility.

Structured learning taught you to function as a mass
within a system that produces the individual as a part of the whole.
How much will you rise above the rest? Or how far will you fall from where you stand?
It’s up to you now, anything more you want from the world
has to begin with your efforts. It won’t merely be provided.
No one is entitled to care about your feelings,
or to listen to what you think. If you want those
relationships you have to cultivate them.

Create your path, or life has a way of creating it for you.
But wouldn’t you rather choose it?