Three Monkeys on the underground

Brueghel’s Two Monkeys

This is what I see in my dream about final exams:
two monkeys, chained to the floor, sit on the windowsill,
the sky behind them flutters,
the sea is taking its bath.
The exam is History of Mankind.
I stammer and hedge.
One monkey stares and listens with mocking disdain,
the other seems to be dreaming away-
but when it’s clear I don’t know what to say
he prompts me with a gentle
clinking of his chain.

Wislawa Szymborska

Seen on the underground on my way to a Memory & Cognition exam.