by Christopher Luke

Created on: November 24, 2011   Last Updated: November 25, 2011

It's a Mad World, But Is It a Bad World?

Madness, badness, what are they but opposite sides of the same coin
Not unlike my anxiety and depression.
The former, at times, all-powerful and controlling,
The latter, in turn, overshadowing and enrolling
Each thing and person with whom it connects and conscripts,
Driving all ever deeper into its bottomless pit of recession.

Madness, what defines it but a state of chaos,
People or things, perhaps even my thoughts, rushing round with no sense of control,
Little or even less sense of direction, possibly less sense of purpose too,
Rendering self or others useless to oneself, as well as to you.

Badness, what defines it but that which is wrong,
Which shortens the day and makes the night long,
Rendering one equally as helpless and hopeless as the other side of the coin,
Where anger and frustration marry, and fear and despair join.

Madness, badness, what are they but opposite sides of the same coin
Which, when united form a common currency of woe,
One which is as timeless as it is universal but which nobody wants,
One which oft one seeks to lose but which, unlike money, one never ceases to fully lose or let go.

Madness, badness, leave me I pray,
Quit owning me as though I am your slave.
As the song says “I want to break free”
So in Jesus’s name I say leave me now my hated anxiety and my unloved anxiety.
Enable me to see, feel, touch, taste and smell the light round the corner,
Where there is a brighter place than this, and its days are much longer and warmer.

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