On a recent holiday to the Murray River area we visited an old Mental Asylum, which is now a very pleasant University Campus site. This Dungeon has been preserved.
DOORWAY TO HELL
Your body may be sick;
It is treated.
Your mind may be sick;
It is treated.
*
Today
There is no differentiation.
Pills, injections,
Therapies
Abound.
Above all there is sympathy.
*
But go back two hundred years
To a Mental Asylum
In New South Wales.
These steps,
This door
Would have struck terror to your very soul.
*
Maybe you awoke
Muddled,
Befuddled,
In a grey mist of uncertainty.
Who am I?
Where am I?
Maybe I am not here at all!
*
Maybe someone asked you something.
Maybe someone brushed up against you.
Maybe someone looked at you in a strange way.
Maybe you were made to eat unpleasant food.
*
For whatever reason
You cracked!
The whole world exploded
In a bewildering array
Of flashes,
Noises,
Sensations you could not describe.
*
To escape, you flailed your arms,
Screamed,
Kicked,
Yelled abuse.
The well-meaning attendants were powerless
Against your devilish strength!
*
Several of them pinioned your arms,
Tied you in a straight-jacket,
Frog-marched you to the steps,
To The Door.
And locked you in.
*
There, in the dark
You suffered alone.
Until reason prevailed.
*
Or until you died.
*
Be thankful.
*
*
