Friday Poem

Behind the Curtain of Madness

I wish I could do whatever I liked
behind the curtain of “madness.”
Then: I’d arrange flowers, all day long,
I’d paint; pain, love and tenderness,
I would laugh as much as I feel like
at the stupidity of others, and they would all say:
“Poor thing, she’s crazy!” (Above all I would
laugh at my own stupidity.)

I would build my world which, while I lived,
would be in agreement with all the worlds.
The day, or the hour, or the minute that I lived
would be mine and everyone else’s – my madness
would not be an escape from “reality.”

by Frida Kahlo
from
Poetic Outlaws