Expect Nothing by:Alice Walker

Expect Nothing

Expect nothing. Live frugally
On surprise.
become a stranger
To need of pity
Or, if compassion be freely
Given out
Take only enough
Stop short of urge to plead
Then purge away the need.

Wish for nothing larger
Than your own small heart
Or greater than a star;
Tame wild disappointment
With caress unmoved and cold
Make of it a parka
For your soul.

Discover the reason why

So tiny human midget
Exists at all
So scared unwise
But expect nothing. Live frugally
On surprise.

Alice Walker

It is evident that Alice Walker explains that expecting nothing can be our greatest surprise. She explains that our mind urges for things that we expect to happen and that we are blind by this. We are unable to live life as a surprise.   She’s trying to tell her readers to just live life without a plan and to have fun with it . Life should be a surprise. You never know what life is going to bring next and I think that Alice wants her readers to notice how true that is. She always has you notice how much you have, compared to what others don’t, and to wish for smaller, more humble things than what you already have. If you don’t expect a lot from life you can’t be disappointed, but you can be surprised. Because Alice expects you to agree with her  she uses few figures of speech, and does not support her points. This poem is not trying to explain, or convince. A homily - like a sermon - sets out to reinforce prejudices already shared with the reader.
Example of A Metaphoric stanza:
 "Wish for nothing larger
Than your own small heart
Or greater than a star; "
 Heart is used as a metaphorical equivalent for smallness, a star as a metaphorical equivalent for largeness, and you could argue that 'smaller than your ... heart' and 'greater than a star' are also weak examples of   hyperbole (understatement / overstatement).