Consider for a moment just
how different things might be
today, perhaps only in small ways,
if one particular Mary had
never been sainted, for then
the asylum in London might well
have had a different name, not
St. Mary’s of Bethlem for Bethlehem.
If that had happened there would
be no bedlam in the world, to
the obvious frustration of politicians
who would have to actually campaign
for something, not merely against
the bedlam they see sown by their opponents.
Of course there might also be no Christianity,
for the Mary in question was the one and only,
and we’d be stuck with the Old Testament
and its six hundred thirteen commandments.
So perhaps a little bedlam in the world
really isn’t too high a price to pay.