Do Not Weep, Child, For Exams Are Kind.

Do not weep, child, for exams are kind
Because your friend cut her wrists for stress
And trembled as it bled down
Do not weep,
Exams are kind.

Hoarse, silent whispers of pens in the classroom,
Little souls who ache to sleep
These students were born to learn and die
Facts and formulas float among them
Great is the study-god, great and his kingdom --
The classroom where a thousand souls lie.

Do not weep, mother, for exams are kind
Because your child cries herself to sleep at night,
Flinches as she hands you her results,
Do not weep,
Exams are kind.

Dull textbooks in the classroom,
Cat with fish and bowl,
These students were born to learn and die
Point to them the virtue of cramming
Make plain to them the excellence of mugging
And the classroom where a thousand souls lie.

Teacher, whose scrawls stain red,
The white untainted scripts of your students.
Do not weep.
Exams are kind.