Down The Rabbit Hole

She was told to wear long dresses

And find a handsome rich man.

“Look like a lady not a hero”

Is what they told her before she ran.

Tired of starving herself just to fit,

Into a style that she didn’t like.

Inside, she knew she was a warrior

Who could kill monsters with a strike.

She thought that being herself,

an independent woman, was a crime.

Because that kind of behaviour,

Was frowned upon in ladies of that time.

She left the party to follow a rabbit

And fell down a big dark hole.

Her head hit the ground hard,

And to prevent a firm impact, she rolled.

But then as the world stopped spinning,

She saw and bit into a cake.

Her surroundings grew smaller

She grew taller than the room could take.

After drinking from the “drink me” bottle,

She shrunk to a height so small.

But luckily she saw a tiny door,

A passage to a world, beyond that wall.

After pushing open the door,

She entered a world of green.

With a mad hatter, a cheshire cat

And 2 sisters playing opposing queens.

And when she went into battle

With Jabberwock, the Red Queen’s pet,

She realised that she was stuck in a dream,

Highlighting a very different threat.

She was at the end of her childhood,

With no more excuses to give.

And this dream had taught her a lesson:

That she had to grow up and live.

The rabbit had explained to her

That she was running out of time.

The Mad Hatter would advise her,

That she must cage her wandering mind.

The Red Queen was an example,

Of the ugliness that came of jealousy.

When her sister got everything she wanted,

And fulfilled her legacy.

“I’m fine” would sound the same when hurt,

The grinning cat displayed.

And adulthood was more than it seemed,

And harder than it had been portrayed.

She remembered the smoking caterpillar’s advice,

When she woke up in the rabbit hole.

It was that she should make the most of her time,

Because there would always be things outside her control.

- Akshaya Pai