MADNESS?

Is it madness to want to speak to and smile
at the people we meet on the streets,
as we pass each other, our eyes to the ground,
complaining of tired, achy feet.

Let our children be free to play outside
in the knowledge they won’t come to harm,
that a stranger isn’t danger or a thing to fear
as they play with their mates on the farm.


Is it madness to believe that there must be hope 
to cling onto in dark, desperate times;
that we'll always cope with the hardships doled out
from beneath the clock-tower’s chimes.

To beg and plead for an end to all wars; 
to bring home the brave men and women.
To hold them close, feel their hearts beating strong,
instead of shrouded beneath bright, coloured linen.


Is it madness to want the political elites 
to finally bring a halt to their plans
to destroy the world, until all we have left
is sand, trickling through desperate hands.

Can we finally end the reign of religion,
as it tilts its vile head in disdain
at persecution and cold-blooded slaughter,
as more innocents scream out in their pain.


Is it madness to want a life full of bliss
with no cloud of consumerist greed;
to reap the harvest that the sunlight has kissed
and know that your family can feed.

Is it madness to want to breathe the clean air 
that we remember as an innocent child,
the cumulous clouds floating high overhead
as we played, running fast, free and wild.


"If madness it is,
then madness I am,
for I choose to hope and believe,

that one day we’ll be free
to live, you and I, 
without oppression, division and greed."



*
Written by Darren Scanlon, 5th May 2015.
Revised 20th September 2016.
©2016 Darren Scanlon. All rights reserved.