(To my younger sibling) “Are you with me,”

Is Professor R’s catchphrase and bless that heart.

I am with you and not. With you in spirit and ideology and thinking but not there in passable skill or writing or even speed.

But I do not suppose that they do not know. We should in fact suppose that they know we do not know.

So those 19 cases, we got through them only as the movement of piano keys shifted to the next 28, mercoledi* is over: the hour is nove.

We have made a slip-up, patched quickly, in ordering the groceries late.

Here is Week 2 of about a 120 actual weeks of classes done, I told Ri that it was such an infinitesimal fraction to be done with.

My personal interests are at war with the future and I am the battleground.

–

I promised you already, that in five years I will earn enough to send you wherever you wish or need to go to do whatever your soul calls for.

So that is the main goal these five years of mine is dedicated to. Because of that, I will not stall and I will not hesitate to cut off those interests.

This four-month run is the first of ten. To have something that is sustainable, or that allows me to burn slowly enough to outlast the century.

The ache in my shoulders is physical of course, but how could I begrudge them the weight?

The promises we make to ourselves are in the end more requests of ourself. And then we tell ourselves that the future will be better.

But is that not all that people live for? For that better tomorrow?

–

I want to bless the honesty of Professor L who was able to tell us that they overslept. Their voice makes the pounding headache of not enough sleep to complete the afternoon readings tolerable.

In that future, I cannot say I want to be an honest person. That is not the goal.

–

I want to rest my cheek on the cold glass in facing of Professor G’s softly inflected voice, that twinges only in annoyance or alarm.

Who, as all the others, has little to no time in addressing questions that are kindly or otherwise characterised as unrelated. Because it is the truth to not be denied – each four-month cycle is not a marathon but a sprint.

We reserve judgement with the hammer sinking in the depths of our souls because we know that most of us will not quit.

Halfway between nove and dieci, I will.

–

Lunedi* and mercoledi* italiano classes are a bright light in my weeks but I do not deny that I am tired – eating your words in the pronunciation and the soft roundness.

Professoressa, I mean a lot more by grazie. At the end of these sixteen weeks, I hope to be able to scrive this to you in italiano.

You are gentle and sharp, but I will studio as hard as I can.

Mi dispiace – and you would laugh and say it’s too early and far too ridiculous to be using those words asked back to you when there is nothing.

–

He gave us the example of a cat or a dog then said it was

a rabbit.

As far as analogies go,

it was great.

She gives us the time and space to speak,

but as time tightens then

is it too much to ask?

He certainly thinks so, or

perhaps he thinks too highly of the rest

of us who are swimming,

afloat for now but always at the threat of drowning.

I hope they do not forget that strong swimmers are more likely to

drown

in

the

depths.

Sleeping like the dead,

inflating your lungs and

you float there on the surface,

extending your survival period.

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