Waiting for results

Waiting for results

Used to mean

Listening for the letterbox clanging;

And the thud of letters dropping

Onto the doormat.

Some messages still arrive that way

But now it’s more likely to be

Suddenly flashed up on a screen

Flickering suddenly

So you may look twice

To read and believe,

Also it could arrive

With an irritating phone noise

That informs what the diagnosis is,

If the exams are passed

Or who has been elected

And which one fool will rule

Outside

While inside the body

Another disease is named.