Inferno in Oz - 4

In lands of yellow Winkie folk

Ruled over by a man of tin,

King Chopper hears a distant cry

Familiar, but thin.

"What is that sound," he asks the air,

"That distant calling that I hear?

Is there something out there, or

Have I a tinnish ear?"

The palace doors swing open wide,

As crowds of subjects fill the room;

They shriek of dark clouds, howling winds

And fear of coming doom.

"The yellow lands, your Majesty,

They wither to an empty grey!

Something evil this way comes --

We have to run away!"

"Nonsense," says the metal lord,

"No wicked can befall us here,

For Dorothy has drowned the Witch

and made her disappear!"

"Tis not the Witch," his subjects cry,

"But she who killed her, and her beast!

You have to tell us what to do -- 

Or save our lands, at least!"

"Dorothy, the little girl

Who saved me from a rusty end? 

How is there an enemy

Where once was trusted friend?"

He leaves his crown upon the throne

And marches out the palace door,

Takes a look around at lands

Not yellow anymore.

Yet no one's hurt in any way

(As terrified as they've become)

The angry whisper in his head

Grows to seething thrum.

"NICK CHOPPER," thunders in his ears,

"YOU HAVE ONE MINUTE TO COMPLY.

SURRENDER NOW AND SERVE ME, KING,

OR WATCH YOUR PEOPLE DIE."

"THE WIZARD'S LIES HAVE TRAPPED ME HERE --

EIGHTY YEARS WITH NOMISH PIGS --

MY JOB FOR YOU, AXE-WIELDING FRIEND:

BRING ME OSCAR DIGGS."

He feels the fury in her voice,

The anguish of the decades bound --

Pulls out his pincushion heart

And throws it on the ground.

Steel monster Tin King becomes

As molten darkness permeates;

Without a word, he storms away 

To find the man she hates.

---

- © Jackson Cambridge, 2016.