THE UNIVERSITY OF PAIN

Life isn't theater; it's tenure in the dark.
A university where suffering grants the degree,
where every lesson leaves its mark
and tuition comes due in blood, not currency.
You say you've studied hardship? Passed through grief?
I've sat through seminars that broke the mind,
dissertations written beyond belief
in a curriculum the innocent won't find.
I've attended lectures given by the damned,
taken finals in rooms with no exit door,
learned languages no textbook ever planned,
earned credentials from a faculty at war.
My thesis? Survival. My honors? Scars.
My classmates? Ghosts who couldn't make the grade.
While you complain about your seminar,
I graduated from the lifetime I was made to wade.
So don't speak to me of your freshman pain...
of pop quizzes in discomfort, easy tests.
I've got a PhD from the domain
where failure means you never get to rest.
The university of pain has no holidays,
no summer breaks, no sabbatical year.
Just endless semesters that blur into days,
and a commencement that never comes near.

Image Credit: freepik

Reviews

[Travis Gibson (poetic h..]

I can not praise this enough! This is brilliant writing! You worked that metaphor with stunning precision! I look forward to reading more of your work! Standing O!

[Akinlolu]

Hi Travis. Glad you saw something interesting in my writing. Looking forward to checking out some of your stuff soon.
Cheers