Once Upon a Time

David F. Tatterson

Chasing rabbits, the chaos ahead greater than behind
Confusion in control but that’s the nature of time
Did the rabbit give Alice the time? Was he late?
Did they stop to dine? And what of their fate?

Refrain
Time is a wonderland dream
Confusion in an endless stream
Alice up, down, and all around
Time’s disorder quite profound
And so, time goes on, never finishing
A con, confusion never diminishing
As children’s rhyme always begin
With once upon a time; an Alice spin

It happened once upon a time but why only once?
Time’s design, laid out in endless days and months
A caterpillar and smiling cat led to the mad hatter’s party
But time increases the disarray, the worry about being tardy

Where has time gone? Can we return to less confusion?
Is this a one-way marathon run in time’s delusion?
The arrow points ahead, never wavering, steady and true
Alice wakes, but not in bed, feeling things just a bit askew

The Science

‘Once Upon a Time’ is a convolution of Lewis Carrol's Alice in Wonderland and the second law of thermodynamics, randomness, time, and the arrow of time.

The Poet

David F. Tatterson an American who lives in New Mexico. He is a retired chemical engineer who writes poetry and lyrics for songs as a hobby. He currently has over 15 songs on Spotify, YouTube music and the music platforms. Most of the songs are about cowboys.

Next poem: Relativity at the midnight matinee by Karen Schofield