No one can take this test for you
and what would be the point?

It’s essential to be honest,
these hours could define
your life from here on in

And life’s not a rehearsal,
so what could you revise?
Too late to take a different course

All this and more come floating in
as you wake at 3 a.m.

Nervous, feeling foolish
in your backless gown,
and all the while thinking

of the answers that
your stupid blood
proved too thick to give