Alice

As I sit,
The sun is setting in wild splendid sights
Of prismatic delights
And I wonder...

I wonder if I can see them,
Running that circular race, drenched in intoxication
Feathered and flustered in their curious way
As they skip and stalk and stand around
And slow and stop to watch me
With a frown
I sit and ponder - where are they now?

Now I think,
And my mind goes into flusters.

Sliding down the poker stick
Was something that I wrote down,
Am I to be always the pawn of the world,
Or - if I play my cards right - will I
Be Queen
And rule in chaotic harmony?

Would I be the Queen of Cauliflower Hearts,
Playing vegetable croquet and off with their heads?
But no - too brash, I have to be
Upstanding to my fellow friends,
And offer biscuits
And sweets
And force them to run
Through human flowers that laugh and leer.
Two red ladies, side by side
[What a brilliant fight, I must confide]
First playing canasta to soothe the mind
And then a round of chess if they can find
A white lily for their amusement.

The clouds are passing by now,
Like an elderly ewe swimming through a river,
[Perfumed water, transparently scented]
As she picks the reeds out of the sun;
Dinah leaps out of our boat
And drowns in bathtime sorrow.

But the cat smiles,
And grins,
And appears without warning,
To remind me that there is always hope,
Both false and true in Cheshire and elsewhere,
So one should never get their hopes up,
But smile at the cat that will always appear
And vanish into grinning mystery,
On the hat of the madman, holding the hare
By the ears he snores and takes his tea...

Into the worlds of reflections and broken memories,
A drug-induced horizon half-asleep with me.

I look at my youth running through the garden,
And I see the memories flowing through each vein.
My wonderland and through the looking glass,
They will never see, except in dreams;
It dies with me inside the grave.
But a child is rich in tenacity,
To create their own wonderland through the looking glass,
To touch and tell tales of times they saw -

But listen to the cat that smiles upon people.
As the sun shines on them,
I set on life.