All In Vain

We work and work, so hard, so long, that our expectations for that final test, performance, or exposé, overestimate the reactions of others, the pain and suffering, the time, and the perseverance, All in vain. We practice year round only to be forgotten when it counts, crouching down among the depths of our seats we struggle to stay hidden, away from the unwanted pity of the all seeing eyes, those of the popular and the powerful, so false in their ideals that we feel less embarrassed and more angered by the destruction of our own expectations, And then when all is over and the long hours that follow have passed, we reflect on our experience. Just as we realize the comicality of our hard work, we are beaten down once again by those who blame us for our loss of recognition, All in vain. We build ourselves up, just to be beaten down with the vigor of a common unrelenting peon. All in vain.