A voyage

Knock at my castle door tonight,

Coming from that North Country

Where the Sun is seldom seen under its grey grim blankets

Knock at my castle door gently

The filigree gate and the crystal guardians

Might shudder and break into thousand pieces

If you’re less than delicate

Knock at my castle door hopefully

I will wait for you and open the massive glass door

And lead you through halls covered with transparent tapestries

And corridors lined by alabaster chandeliers

Follow me along the winding dusty staircase

The webs are the only curtains in that forlorn space

Which has seen nobody for so long

And only heard the sound of old pendulums

Interrupting the peevish squealing of mice

There’s a room upstairs that nobody knows

Just help me to open that heavy marble door

And don’t get scared if hinges squeak so loud

Nobody has oiled them for ages

Help me to find the case where a wizard hid a carpet

Years and years ago

When the Earth was young

And the Moon didn’t hurt anybody with its steely rays

A magic Oriental flying carpet

I will open the windowpanes

And unaware of the cold-hearted North wind

Blowing unmercifully inside that secret room

We’ll tie our safety belts and

"Off we go!!"

Bound to South and East towards warmer lands

Hold me tight with one hand

And with the other grasp our flying carpet

The wind is getting harsher but you can also see

How its quality is changing

And now you feel the warm breeze on your face

And if you look at the sky you’ll see

We’re following the trajectory of that rainbow

Just wondering where that perfect arch lands

Because there’s a brave new world

Waiting for us down there

Where the air is scented with the aromas of ginger, cinnamon and saffron

And never the icy bad-tempered North wind blows

The sun reigns like a king in the sky

And its rays will soon turn you into a dark Arabian prince

And we will live on juicy grapes and the rich fruits of love

Knowing…

We’ve found the pot of gold there

At the end of the rainbow…

An activity for students:

Write an interview to the author of this poem. Use wh-questions beginning with:

• who (are you?)

• what (do you mean by?)

• where  (is the other person coming from?)

• how (exactly should I knock at your door?)

• how (many rooms are there in your castle?)

• how long (has your castle seen any visitor?)

• when (did you build this castle?)

It's forbidden to start a question with WHY? If you want to know... WHY? wait until Witchy (that means myself) has found some time to update the section about NLP and publish an article about metamodel interview.

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