To Be or Not To Be

A voice came clearly: 

Listen! 
Tell me what it is, 
if you can, that knowing 
that knows that you are mad. 

Listen! 
And then tell me 
what you will choose to be: 
the knowing or the madman? 

And I heard the voice say to his friend: 

Watch! 
Tell me, which one 
you think he will choose? 
At least a madman is something to be. 

Watch! 
And then tell me, 
if you can, whether he will 
prefer that to the nakedness of knowing.