The Minister for Exams.
When I was a child I sat an exam
The test was so simple
There was no way I could fail.
Q1. Describe the taste of the moon.
It tastes like creation, I wrote
it has the flavour of starlight.
Q2. What colour is Love?
Love is the colour of water which a man
lost in the desert finds, I wrote.
Q3. Why do snowflakes melt?
I wrote, they melt because they fall
onto the warm tongue of God.
There were other questions.
There were as simple.
I desrcibed the grief of Adam when he was expelled from Eden.
I wrote down the exact weight of an elephant's dream.
Yet today, many years later,
For my living I sweep the streets
or clean out the toilets of the fat hotels.
Why? Because I consistently failed my exams.
Why? Well, let me set a test.
Q1. How large is a child's imagination?
Q2. How shallow is the soul of the Minister for Exams?
-Brian Patten, The Armada. 1996.
I was born intelligent, but educations ruined me.
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