Dreaming of Alice - oil painting (unframed)

Dreaming of Alice

‘There’s magic afoot’,

said Alice, to the mirrored glass,

but white rabbit just gazed,

looking strangely aghast.

As he ran to the mirror,

to find his enchanted place,

Hidden behind a curtain,

of white innocence and lace.

Alice followed to see,

what was hidden behind,

The white delicate drape,

representing a world yet to find.

And finding and seeing,

this strange and magical place,

Alice was startled to see,

her own, precocious face.

She couldn’t get through,

the mirror of glass,

Although the white rabbit

could easily pass.

Into the glass, to a world,

as far as his eyes could see,

to a place of enchantment,

where a white rabbit could be.

Of starlight and moonlight,

and creatures so strange,

Looking-glass land,

where nonsense is entertained,

With people decked in costumes,

and a cat sits in a tree,

Smoking and grinning,

and smiling with glee.

The entire land’s divided,

into squares and a series of brooks.

With hedges growing perpendicular,

to each other, and looks,

like imaginary playing cards,

and another, a game of chess,

and beasts, one a Jabberwocky,

a monster in full dress.

It consists of two factions:

the reds and the whites,

each side has its own king and queen,

and regal looking knights,

armies, castles, and bishops,

reflected in looking-glass land,

built like a sandcastle,

moving, shifting, like sand.

Alice couldn’t pass through,

the rabbit’s bright glassy hole,

Into a garden of living flowers,

and an unsightly ugly mole,

on the Queen of Heart’s big,

and nasty, bullying face,

to the croquet game,

and the mock turtle’s disgrace.

The Queen plays with guillotines,

so that rolling heads roll.

Because bullies the world over,

always want to control.

In a place full of nonsense,

where there is nowhere to be.

Because everything is what it isn't,

only what you see.

Where the cards are all trumps,

painting the white roses red.

Alice missed it all,

but dreamed it in her head.

She missed the pool of tears,

the caterpillar, the caucus race.

All she could see, was,

her own, innocent face.

The lobster quadrille,

who stole queen’s best jam tarts,

to hide from a regime,

which was dominated by hearts.

And to join Dormouse,

March Hare, you see,

And a Mad-Hatter’s tea-party,

set up for the spree.

The rhyming twins,

Tweedledee and Tweedledum,

And Humpty Dumpty,

sitting on his big bum.

The lion and the unicorn,

dressed up for the fun,

Where a white rabbit, worried,

about time on the run.

But what in the world,

did the white rabbit say,

Was it a game, that,

he wanted Alice to play.

‘Come follow, be quick,

into a world where time,

Is at the heart of betrayal,

and everything must rhyme.’

In the knowledge that white rabbits,

are not only children’s pets,

But creatures with bow ties,

smart jackets, and tailored vests.

The rabbit in Alice’s story,

symbolised a quest for greater things,

the theme of growing up,

and learning how to fit in.

That the most important lesson,

for any young person to learn,

Is not to let bullies destroy you,

or to make you burn,

By following the white rabbit,

falling down a rabbit hole,

Getting to where you need to be,

by feeding your inner soul.