The Last Moonicorn, Part Two of Six

___

______

The Star Girl of green

and her fine Phoban friend

have been captured by Martians.

—Could this be The End?


_________

______

THE SECOND SLICE

(in which a factory is encountered)

_________

______

And so they were captured, and so they were bound,

the Moonicorn thrown on that gritty red ground,

and the Martians embarked, with their captives in tow,

on their march across Mars, to the channels below.

_________

Fearsome furlongs of treacherous trenches they trudged,

and the bonds that were binding them couldn’t be budged.

Then they stopped, and before them, its opening wide,

was a cavernous cave, and they led them inside.

_________

‘’Tis the factory! I know it!’ the Moonicorn wept.

‘I can smell in these passages pies have been kept!’

And the rhythmical rumble from deep in the hill

told the truth: there was life in this factory still.

_________

So into the factory’s guts they were led,

as, despairing, the Moonicorn lowered his head,

for he knew now the end of his species was nigh:

very soon he’d become the last Moonicorn pie.

_________

Then the friends were unshackled beneath a great shaft

in a cage, and their cruel captors locked it and laughed,

and the girl held him grimly, at dusk, in the deep,

underneath that charred chimney, and slid into sleep.

_________

______

The Moonicorn gazed up the vent to the sky,

as his hours slipped away, longing once more to spy

his dear Phobos, sweet Phobos, his lonely home moon.

(The sunrise approached: he’d be minced and mashed soon ... )

_________

And, what joy! What a treat! One last darling delight!

For, before he was meat, dangling in the dawn light,

not just Phobos he glimpsed, gleaming golden and true,

but silvery Deimos, Mars’ moon number two.

_________

But, no ... What was that? That brief glimmering glint?

It couldn’t be! No! Yes? A hornflash! A hint

of a hornflash? It must be! Again! Yes! The flare!

On Deimos? Impossible! Yet, it was there.

_________

‘Another horn! Star Girl! We have to postpone

this pie-die day! Up! I’m no longer alone!

We must flee and be free! It is nearly the dawn!

I’m only the Second-to-Last Moonicorn!’

_________

But the Moonicorn’s words were drowned out by a CLANG!

as a deafening bell through the factory rang

and, resonant, trembled the young Star Girl’s fears

with that bell, and as well with the thrumming of gears

_________

that began as a grumble and rose to a growling,

with layered upon it a horrible howling

as Martians, awakening, knew that their fast

was about to be broken by gravy at last.

_________

Then, suddenly, Star Girl and horse were lassoed

by the butchers and bakers, as baying for food,

all the factory Martians pressed in on their prey,

and they prodded and pawed as they pulled them away!

_________

______

___

--> to The Last Moonicorn, Part Three of Six

<-- to The Last Moonicorn, Part One of Six