Once upon a time

There was a castle, a palace, a kingdom

There was a beautiful princess, a handsome prince

There was a king and queen, wicked, or benign

A wizard counsellor, a fairy godmother

A dark forest, a magical tower

A witch, an elf, a dwarf

Mystical creatures and charmed artifacts

Once upon a time

There was magic

Now there are cities and roads

Governments and lies

Pollution and crime

Poverty and homelessness

Cruelty and apathy

Sickness and despair

What would the world be

If we could say

That all these things are

Once upon a time

What future could we see

If all these things

Were long ago and far away

Would that we could

Consign the evils of the world

To the realms of myth and legend

Where nothing like that could really happen

Where it’s all just a fairy-tale