I wrote “Melancholy Madness” in the middle of one of the hardest seasons of my life. My dad is facing stage 4 cancer, and the stress has taken a toll on my mother’s memory and health. (I shared more about my dad’s diagnosis in Facing Cancer With Faith.) This Christian poem about depression and loneliness came out of those dark days, when despair can feel lonely even when you’re surrounded by people who love you. But it doesn’t end in the mud and mire. It ends with hope in Jesus, who reaches down to us, and the promise that even while we wait, we are never alone.
Melancholy madness
Sensual sadness
Down the depths of despair
Where no one else is there
From the end to the start
Cries the lonely heart
Surrounded by people
Under the holy steeple
From the depths of mud and mire
Comes the light of desire
Reaching down with nail-scarred hand
Delivering to the promised land
In despair I wait, but not alone,
For His Spirit makes my heart His home