A student’s pit

I pay all this money
a student to be
to sit in lectures
a little lost she

I care not a tuppence
for limits and bounds
and proofs and notation
and dull lecture sounds

To sit here and listen to stuff so obscure
when the sun is shining on hard work and fervour

Oh that I could be of a little more use
could get up and
dance down the steps
and induce
a crowd of singing
and clapping of hands
and an outburst of hearts
as each soul takes it stand

but no as it is
I sit there and groan
pretend I am lucky
this priviledge to have known

I’m grateful I am
and some maths i love
but mostly i feel
like I’ve just had enough

And sin it creeps up
with all fleshly desires
as i seek a way
to escape from these dires

Give me a new heart
In a world with a way
for all souls to be sated
for the way they were made

I’m crushed with bad choice
Each one keeps its hold
It speeds up the feeling
of decay and growing old

That I could live
as a child of the light
as a child who is happy
fulfilled and bright

Could a one be so lost
as I am in this place
where false gods and silence
increase their dark face

Oh keep me afloat
oh lord take my hand
forgive me my sin
and that of this land

One is good, so perfect is he
Is all I have left to speak of you see
for all is nothing, but for this great god
who made us and knows us
and can give us a prod.

Oh keep me afloat
oh lord take my hand
forgive me my sin
and that of this land.

A poem by Emily Nash (Nottingham, UK)