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ZO,

Our balloon drifted down over Greenland

Where we saw the future unscrolling into the past

First, the placating faker was unmasked

Then, grim guards sang in formation

‘Round a melting evil

In sterile corridors dark pronouncements were heard

And a grim decision:

“It’s best to start at the beginning” the good one said

As the roulette wheel spins the birthday room

Starred scepter or proletarian broom

Now “A very small task” in the viny autumnal woods

Kill the wicked witch, return with the goods

Shivering junkyard, bag of hay, quivering fur ball, slink away!

“Something with poison in it but pleasing to the eye”

Set forth our armies, Fly! Fly!

Into the nexus of the jaundiced spiral

We saw the humbug head in his smoke

There was difficulty at the gate

Almost drowned in seductive sleep

We awakened, but too late

Then, chased by pugnacious trees

The beast fled, the scholar was confused

And we saw the arm and axe of the warrior freeze

Towering over our parents,

In special shoes amid praise and threats

We fell

Past the rainbow, somewhere

Into a gray world