Gerasene contry

Haiku for crazy people

Gerasene country:

among the tombs and the swine,

the broken man roams.

Naked to the world,

cut off from society

he is in torment.

With shackles and chains

they have tried to restrain him.

The man is too strong.

When Jesus arrives

Legion comes to confront him,

bringing his demons.

Whether it’s demons,

mental illness, brain damage;

he still needs healing.

The swine dash headlong

into the lake, carrying

dark spirits with them.

The towns-people came

and found the man clothed and sane,

sitting with Jesus.

Please leave us Jesus,

it’s all too much, we’re frightened!

So he departed.

Let me come with you,

the man begged. No, said Jesus,

Go, declare God’s deeds.

So the man went home

restored; to live, to love, and

to tell his story.

© Ken Rookes 2019

My name is Legion

Legion were my hauntings,

and numerous the years of their torments.

Great was my nakedness,

and multiple the chains and shackles

that lay rusting among the weeds,

failed and broken.

Vast was my hopelessness,

deep my despair,

and terrible the fear

evoked by my unholy presence.

Many were my dwellings

among the tombs outside the city.

Considering myself dead,

I was at home there;

and at the same time, lost.

Manifold were the blessings

from the hand of the Galilean;

who arrived, uninvited,

at this desolate place,

to speak his words of healing,

hope,

liberty and life.

They sent him away;

I would have gone with him.

“Return to your people,”

he told me. “Be a living declaration

of the wonders of God.”

I did as he said.

My heart,

however,

followed him to Jerusalem.

© Ken Rookes 2016