The Hamlet Project

I have seen my fair share of madness.
Madness has moved through my life
With the regularity of a planet in its orbit, sometimes
it’s quite close and its influence is strong –
At others, the madness passes at a distance – just the bright glimmer of Venus –
Which could almost be mistaken for a star.
Of the madness that I have seen,
None would have been provoked by a letter returned
Or a door closed.
The causes have always been deeper,
More dramatic, more outrageous
Or decidedly less so,
Sometimes there appears to be no cause at all –
Just a sudden shift in the brain
That turns the world upside down –
First for the “mad” one,
Then for the people around him.
A change in the wind,
A date on the calendar,
The loss of a child or the hope of one
The sound of a whistle
Are all as likely to trigger madness
And perhaps as likely to end it.