Inferno in Oz - 3 : 3

Leaderless, without a plan,

And left to fight the apes alone,

Each Nome, to the very last,

Is driven (screaming) home.

While inside the palace walls, 

Jellia Jamb and Glinda Good

Send the staff to bar the doors

With nails and bits of wood.

"Hurry, Jamb -- give me a hand --

Grab the mirror's other side,

Help me take it off the wall, 

And carry it outside!"

"But Glinda, would it not be wise

To keep the mirror tucked away?"

"Surely," comes a patient sigh,

"But not, in fact, today.

"My plan: We put the mirror out

Right out front, for all to see,

And when she lunges for it, 'POOF' --

She'll lose her memory.

For twixt us there, the fountain stands,

Oblivion's waters from its fount;

The moment Dorothy's feet get wet,

She'll be down for the count."

---

Meanwhile, Oz's forest lands

Tremble at the lion's roar --

Ridden by a man of straw,

Much braver than before. 

"Lion," comes the Scarecrow's voice, 

"Are we running fast enough?

I'm not too heavy for you, being

filled with straw and stuff?"

(Lion, running like the wind,

Grumbles at his friend's complaint

"We're as fast as I can go,

No faster, or I'll faint!")

"Very well -- but lion -- wait!

What's that up there, 'side the moon?

Why, Wizard and the Tin Man, too,

In Wiz's air balloon!

"They're headed for the Palace too,"

The lion growls, still at a run,

"We'll follow them not far behind,

And do what must be done!"

(Sadly, straw man and his steed

Arrived too late to join the fore; 

The two of them arrive to find

Oz in open war...

... And Dorothy, friends at her back,

Turns around, and in her view

sees the Wizard's air balloon

And furious, screeches: "YOU!!"

----

- © Jackson Cambridge, 2016.