Results Day
They are coming, they are coming
Wary feet upon the stairs, and
Tripping into parents cars, to
Motorbikes or up the hill.
They are coming, they are coming,
Their faces smudged with sleep and fear
And possibilities arrayed in
Anxious flurries and flusters and a
Need to be gone. Cars speeding,
Bikes swerving, feet pacing,
Lips biting, again. Over and over
Again.
They are coming, they are coming,
Onwards, to their schools, where
Once they hid in toilets, behind
Books, with footballs, with
Cigarettes, in tiny skirts, surrounded
By friends, in libraries.
They come to where they learned
To hide. To hide again,
Still surrounded, by friends
And acquaintances, and bitter enemies
All, for once, in equal uncertainty.
They are coming, they are coming,
They are delivered in the mail
Millions of plain brown envelopes
To succeed, to pass…to fail?