Inferno in Oz - 2

Deep in lands of midnight blue

Where once ruled Witch of wicked cause, 

Straw man hangs in field of corn: 

Scarecrow, King of Oz. 

Knowing not how he arrived,

Or why he can't move but an inch --

The pins and needles of his brain

Have ceased to poke or pinch. 

'I know this is no nightmare, and

Suspect I am alive (not dead),

But something here is deeply wrong,

For this is not my head.'

He tries to speak, but has no mouth

Or nose, and but one working eye;

No clue how he wound up here,

And no idea why. 

'Have I not been wise enough,

To be a worthy Emerald King?

Have I made some grave mistake

To be left here to swing?'

Of course, no answers come to him

(At least none the Scarecrow hears);

What irony -- to hang here deaf

Within a field of ears!

Struggling, he cranes his neck

And sees the hundred thousand nails

That hold him there, and then his mind

Runs clear off the rails. 

Panicking, the scarecrow screams

(in silence, not in words),

But silence has no audience

(Save maybe for the birds). 

Curious, they cock their heads;

A murder, black and beady-eyed; 

Almost sympathetic, though,

As if they hear his cries.

'Who has stole me from my home,

And put me back here in the corn --

Whoever did I treat so wrong

To earn this kind of scorn?

A better question, I suppose:

How am I to wriggle free

Without a brain, or arms or legs,

And but one eye to see?'

Nightfall comes so cold and dark,

With Scarecrow weeping silently;

'I suppose I'm stuck here... might as well 

Hope for Dorothy.

I know she shall come for me

And cut me down just like before;

Her kindness, I am certain shall

Set me free once more.'

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- © Jackson Cambridge, 2015