Take the Test the World Gives You

Take the test the world gives you
You will know it by your desire to refuse
And perhaps by your refusal
Or by your lies
The world will give you tests
Take the tests
Do not create your own tests
And call them tests
They are not.
Your own tests are actually called
Rewards
They appear as difficult
You make them difficult
But they are not difficult.
They are rewards in and of themselves
They are rewards for not taking the tests
That life gives
And you, then, give yourself rewards
For taking your own tests
And the people who take their own tests
Will also reward you
So that they can continue to reward themselves.

Take the tests the world gives you.
You will know them by your refusal.
You will know then because they haunt you
The ones you haven’t taken
You will know them because you will feel
Like a young child in a new school
When you contemplate them.

Take the tests the world gives you
It’s never too late
But there are great riches hidden along the way of the test
And you will not acquire these, ever
Until you take the test
And you can not acquire riches
By taking your own tests
You can only acquire rewards
And the difference
Between riches and rewards
Is the difference
Between fulfillment
And emptiness.