The Madhouse-Owner Alone Does Know!

If a person of somewhat sane mind

Were in a madhouse themselves to find,

Would they want therein to stay?

No! They’d pine to be taken away!

This world as a madhouse I see,

That is quite how it seems to me,

This sometimes I like to believe,

And so, from here I’d like to leave.

But on my own I can’t be so bold,

I just can’t leave unless I’m told

By the One who has sent me here,

In this great madhouse to appear.

It’s He who this madhouse owns,

This abode of shrieks and groans,

And some joy and delight as well:

A taste of both Heaven and Hell.

While in this madhouse I must do

All the tasks that He gives me to,

Spending my sentence in this way,

Till from here He takes me away.

He keeps me here, I must obey,

In this madhouse I have to stay

For as long as this is His decree,

One day, though, He’ll set me free.

In this madhouse I must be content,

Till from here I'm elsewhere sent,

But where is it that I might then go?

The madhouse-owner alone does know!