Poem: Depression

Depression

In revolutionary France, orphans
were taught the opposite of truth,
that white was black, and up was down.
From birth to sixteen,
their life was a lesson in lies,
until the moment
the truth was revealed,

and they were exposed to the world as it is,
and so much they were taught
was unveiled as lies,
that they no longer believed anything,
either the truth or the lies,
and without belief
most went mad,

victims of this experiment in cruelty
that told a truth:
that lies breed doubt,
and doubt breeds madness,
like the world we live in, or

the mind of a depressed soul
who cannot see the value
God places on all his dear children,
even the broken,
even the mad.

=========

The picture is of Poplar Forest, Jefferson's "other" home. The only relationship it has to the poem is that Jefferson loved France. You may click on it for a larger version.

Tom