Empathy for Tadpoles

Haphazard in your forest:
The light and shadows who scream overhead
Stealing teal eggs (speckled) from a nest
And here are all the maps, they're so misguided
Feet planted before the obilisk
Precede the reflecting pool’s open risk

Jaded, entirely invaded, grey foot to gray stone
Waiting for a wicked prince to come along
To whisk, charm, romance, and dance
Upturned nose, god knows no once
Upon a time is ever aptly wisecracked
Stubborn, crossed the pool, knees locked

Placid, cool water and all above
The captor grows, damp and heart-ice cold
Bared teeth for the stench:
Wrong thing to bare, forearms covered,
No arms to bear, dear Ursa’s supper
Lured into her cave, after all, by scent
A hole-in-the-wall hut with all the charm
Of slightly pickled eardrums on mayday
And hints of madmen in the hyper
Vent
       i
      l
     a
    t
   i
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n

Now it’s all licorice stumbles
Licorice (fennel candy) for little black dogs
Yapping against the lapping tounges of the mistress
Comes, shoves–no, yourself: the frame
But Alice isn’t home: who claims her broken skull?
Laughing, shining ugly when
Lemon yellow bubbles out of the sockets
Of blinking babies’ eyes
And he rubs citrus on his head