Examinations Poem by Abdul Latheef

EXAMINATIONS

Like migrating birds
from strange lands
they visit, punctual and frequent
bringing in
alien beings of
scaring shapes and saddening hues.

Unslept nights
mugged up pages
unwind in words to pen
like giant clouds
flooding the earth in drops.

Either to ease life
or constrain it
or smother it, for awhile or long.

They are gooseberries
on the branch of a student's life.
The bitterness paves way
forsweetnessat the end
or turns horrific bitter
to contaminate life.

Born withedges
disastrously sharp
they cut throats, occasionally.

though conservative to change
they have managed to survive for years
like agreying monarch
posing threats to his subjects.