The Boy Was Not As Mad As They Made Out – Written Monday 23rd June 2025 (Aged 50)

The Boy Was Not As Mad As they Made Out

In the end,
the boy was not as mad
or as senseless
as everyone else.

But when bedtime stories
were once told,
the boy was told
to be seen and not heard,
and to be never bold.

To stay in the shadows,
and to,
make sure you knit a jumper
from the softest cold.

But in the end,
the Emperor’s new clothes
failed to glow,
to show that all those holes below
were no worse
than anyone else.

And the boy found out
that the things once told
were not true.

Life, in fact,
hadn’t always been sold,
because it was a world of adults
digging desperately for gold.

But for what?
And what did it mean?
And what was it all about?
in the end the boy found out,
that the boy was not as mad
as they made out.

James Garratt – Monday 23rd June 2025

More poems at:
https://theboybehindtheglasses.com/

More about this blog, The Boy Behind the Glasses, here:
https://theboybehindtheglasses.com/2020/01/08/the-boy-behind-the-glasses-an-introduction/

More poems from 2025:
https://theboybehindtheglasses.com/category/poems-and-writing-2025/