Wonderland

“How do you get to Wonderland?”

The answer is quite simple.

Follow the rabbit, down the hole,

Until you reach the Temple.

It’s tall and it’s wide and it’s filled up with pride

And every soul within

Will stand to the side with your every stride

As the preacher talks of sin.

“Make your way up to the altar, my child”

Says the white-robed, ghostly man.

He says an odd quote and then with a vote

The clergy demands that you’re damned!

They won’t say what you’ve done.

Apparently it was fun?

But there’s none of that allowed here.

This world is quite strange.

Everyone seems deranged!

As they call you a “whore” and a “queer.”

They swear that their god has demands of your bod(y)

And your life was “his” all the time.

But you don’t even know them as they tear at your clothing

While you cry out in fear, “what’s my crime?”

Once you’ve been stripped, you’re lead down to a crypt

And the darkness and cold overcome you.

Their sandpaper hands, wrapped ‘round tight, making bands

Make you cry out in pain, for assistance.

You start to dissemble and your back starts to tremble

As you hear screams of fear in the distance.

You’re forced into a room that feels heavy with doom

With odd torches lining the walls.

At first they seem small, but they’re not small at all,

They‘re, in fact, enormous eyeballs!

They glow hot, like blue fire, with a cruel desire

To scorch your very soul.

And with another sick twist, and the flick of their wrist,

The priests tie you up to a pole.

They stand close around as your cries are all drowned

While their horrible song is begun.

Though Sing as they might, suddenly the air’s tight

And their song can no longer be sung.

For this sudden stillness is the result of an illness

That they did not prepare for.

You watch as they’re dying, and most of them crying,

As their bodies collapse on the floor.

The rabbit comes up and it gives you a cup

of hot, milky tea.

“What the hell happened?” “Oh I set a trap and

They forgot all about me.”

“I don’t understand.” As your bonds turn to sand

And the rabbit hops away.

“Follow me out this hole!” He calls back as you stroll.

They’re all dead, what’s the rush anyway?

Beyond the hole is a garden

that, begging your pardon,

Is quite a sight to behold.

There’s plants of all types, some with purple-blue stripes,

and birds that appear made of gold.

The birds hover in time and their song is sublime

Just so you can feel every note.

The rabbit pops up with another tea cup and as he holds it up,

“Watch the coat!”

“What crime did I do?”

So the rabbit tells you,

“My dear, you can’t be yourself here.

‘Nothing here is what it is. Because everything is what it isn’t.’”

The bun chirps aloud with a grin.

“When you came here and were you, that’s when your notoriety grew.

You see, THAT, my dear, was your sin.”

“I don’t like it here,” you say with a tear then you make your voice clear,

“I’m going home.”

“I’m afraid that you can’t until you learn the chant.

It’s just over there in that tome.”

You open the book and then with a look

You notice something weird

As you open the cover, the book then starts to hover

The answer was worse than you’d feared.

For inside was written in a colorful ribbon,

An array of jumbled up letters.

“Is this some kind of joke?” As you try not to choke,

“What’s wrong? Can you not read Fetters?

“You break them apart. Speak with love, from your heart,”

The rabbit tried hard to explain.

“You’ll get it right or you’ll stay here tonight,

And tomorrow we’ll do it again.”

“I still don’t understand,” You declare as you stand

Suddenly alone.

The rabbit is gone and the birds stopped their song

While the world grows dark ‘round the tome.

The page starts to glow and the wind starts to blow

As a voice can be heard from the book.

“If you wish to see words, you must look to the birds,

And obtain what it is that they took.”

“Can this get any worse?!” You call out with a curse.

Then you suddenly start to feel faint.

The darkness goes to black and you hear a loud *CRACK*

As you realize… “the priest!” Was a feint.