The Exam Poem by Ooi Hui Ying

As the gates of hell swung open,
Orders roared to enter hell hall,
Strings of groans and curses immediately floated into the air,
no doubt sourcing from TheStudents.
Shoulders slumped,
heads down,
TheStudents, of varying IQs,
chucked god-given scrolls
into bags frantically.
Some
slipped nervously into 2 cm thick wool jackets
simultaneously muttered well-wishes to Their Fellows,
Some
prayed feverishly at the last minute,
hoping that their preparations had been sufficient,
Some
repeatedly cursed their ancestors
in different dialects different langauges
they knew.


And together as one,
They
marched into hell hall,
their fate unknown,
to sit
for the
National Exam.


In hell hall,
TheStudents were seated alphabetically,
in neat rows neat columns.
while waiting,
Most
shuffled Their feets uncomfortably,
Many
arranged Their weapons restlessly-
comprising mostly pens and pencils-
Some
stared into blank spaces,
built majestic sandcastle in the air,
Several
gulped down sips of holy water,
a handful
wished They were anywhere else but there.
And
then amidst all,
One of the many Satans in hell hall muttered
the most feared phrase
of all time
'You may begin'.


Papers flipped,
Weapons swiped out,
TheStudents attempted the paper anxiously,
striving to do their best,
knowing that their future lay on how well they performed in that paper.
Satans surrounded Them,
strolled along the rows and columns,
with their hawk-like eyes as
they sought to identify
anyone who tried to cheat.
60 minutes into it,
TheStudents tackled the obstacles presented to them
at different speed and abilities.
Some fast
Others slow
Some with ease
Others with a relatively high degree of difficulty.


Nearing the end,
Some heads were laid on the desks,
Several arms sprawled across tiny desks.
At the same time,
on the other end of hell hall,
for those who had yet to complete the paper,
weapons were utilized to their maximum potential as
pens and pencils were pushed more frantically.
To the latter,
the tickling of the second hand seemed to become
louder
and
louder
and
louder.
Their panic-stricken hearts pumped furiously
in a vain bid to drain out the tickling of the
ever-so -annoying second hand.


Finally,
'Time's up.'
the most favored two-word phrase
of all time
were uttered
by the satan-turned-angel.


Papers
collected,
counted,
checked,
cumulated,
the satan-turned-angel dismissed them
from hell hall
to paradise.


Cheers and whoops were let out involuntarily.
TheStudents raced out of hell hall,
competing to be the first to step out of hell hall,
as they discussed about the paper.


Later, the previously god-given scrolls turned worthless in TheStudents eyes,
just reminders of the hateful experiences they had while preparing for the paper.
TheStudents
dumped it into bins,
swashed it into balls to be kicked,
torn it into strips,
burned it
and
destroyed it completely.


And They set out for celebrations.
The holiday had just begun for TheStudents.