23

Before Mary and Anna leave Utopia

A boy with a big grey beard appears in their way

He squints at then as though he has myopia

He says, "Hold on, Mary, I have something to say"

He Wears a conical hat with starry display

And he holds a staff so tall that it's twice his height

of one meter, And neat blue robes that have no fray

"Pray tell, Merlin," says she. "Spit it out, I won't bite

"You have gifted me with so much of your insight

And you taught me so much magic, and science too”

Merlin doffs his hat with a smile, says "Quite alright.

I just wanted to make sure you know your spells true"

"I do," says Mary, "there's no time for a review

My magical spells sing true, just like you taught me

Except my fireball, instead of red, shoots blue

Everything else comes out right, I can guarantee"

"That's good," says Merlin, "Now go onwards and be free

Remember, on yellow road you must always stay

If you encounter danger of great degree, flee

for your life. Leave everything and run far away."

"I'll remember," Mary makes Merlin's fears allay.

The two girls begin their great journey at long last

All their goodbyes they ask Merlin to go relay

They walk a vast distance, and soon stop for breakfast

"Remember," says Mary, " we want to reach there fast

Tell yourself in your head we'll be there in a week

The magic of positive thinking we will cast

'Tis a strange magic, surrounded by much mystique"

They then reach a vast desert where the mice do squeak

Snakes and insects hiss and bzz beside the brick road

Anna, despite her positive thinking, feels weak

She screams when she sees across the road jump a toad

This toad is just as big as her former abode

It swims not in water but in hot desert sand

Mary, " Wonder if it can be cooked a la mode

Once the cooks have removed the poisonous gland

Anna feels choked, "I've had it with this desert land

It's so hot, horrible and filled with horrid things

Magic me back home please, no I must now demand!

The Viscount was just about to give me a ring"

Mary sighs, " Forget about home, just spread your wings

I know that this land is monotonous and dull

But we are like puppets in this, to Fate's long strings

Oh look, I think I can see a giant's big skull

All your negative thoughts you really need must cull

Just think that we are flying in a cool spring breeze

I know this is trying, you’d rather be in Mull

But we really have to meet up with the Chinese

Reality here: half illusion, Socrates

told me in Utopia. It is called Maya

By an Indian who had certain expertise.

He pondered for ages on the Himalayas

This is a dimension that's not born of Gaia

This is a higher plane where very few can die

So be brave, keep a stiff upper lip I tell ya

Please do not sniff like that, you will make yourself cry”

24

They walk for hours, hours and some more hours

"Oh look," says Anna, those rocks look just like faces

Is it because of the way the wind devours"

"It's the human mind that shows these facial traces,"

says Mary, "It is not the wind in these cases

Humans seek meaning in everything we observe

Especially in the most bizarre realms or places

A man called Rorschach showed all this on a bell curve

I met him in Utopia, He struck a nerve

Looking for the patterns in all of my freckles

All these scientist types really have no reserve

Except for those folk who only mess with metals"

Anna, "Oh! Look at those rocks, they look like devils

And those past there, they really look like woolly sheep

They are so life like that it really is mental

To think it's just mind patterns that we see and keep"

Mary, "Those really are sheep in that sandy heap

Shorty told me there's an annual Lamboree

Taking place over here in the desert so deep;

That we'd come across it, I never did foresee

"What do they do in Lamboree, in this sand sea,"

Asks Anna. She looks at the sheep curiously.

Mary, “They talk bout wool and grass, and shady trees

Butchers too, if this one is a war Lamboree

Now don't mention mutton or chops, seriously

Until we are clear of all of these sheep and goats"

Wind changes direction, and inadvertently

carries the M word to the goats from Mary's throat

Goats and sheep turn to them and stare a lethal dose

Of such overwhelming hatred, rage and anger

Mary, " this will make such a funny anecdote

Run, run, run at a speed faster than a canter!

"Phew," says Anna, relieved when the goats meander

"Looks like they're finally giving up on the chase

We're really lucky to escape in this manner"

"Not so lucky," a mysterious man's voice states