A lad in the levels

 Aladdin in the levels

There was a lad who lived near the levels. This lad one day

Decided the revels had been let out on his virginia scout. So he climbed

Down the vines and onto the peat swamp

The long lines of peat excavations lay before him

Like the grave mounds of great leviathons or sea monsters from the deep

And as he wandered over them, his tired mind did sleep

And he had to lie down for some rest

Shortly after doing this atop a mass grave of peat

He dreamt he was riding upon a whales back through the sea

And the blow hole was spout water and air

Suddenly what he knew was he must go down there

And so he did, he just slid down like a spiral stair

Without the steps

and finally he landed in the whale's mouth

Well it was not much more friendly a place than before

It was damp and a little cold,

But in the corner of the cavenous chamber he saw a lamp

It was golden and shining

And so he picked it up.

A little dim patch caused his reflection to be obscured

And so he rubbed it clean

And as he did a Genie  appeared

In a puff of smoke and spin

The Genie float high above and then leaned in

Are you Aladdin?

Yes said the boy in answer to him

Well come now make a wish

And I will grant it

Aladdin thought, but spent too long for in that moment

The Whale sneezed and both were thrown out onto the rolling seas

With that the boy awoke from his sleep

And found himself nestled into a groove in the peat

Just below him some peat workers were chattin

Lucky for Aladdin he was hidden out of sight, and 

Then he saw near where he lay, a little hole made by a rabbit he would say

So he quietly crawled over and peered in

Aladdin he heard his name echo

Somewhere within

And drawn in further he leant and leant and leant until

Finally he fell head first down the peat well

If you have ever walked in peat you will know this is no light thing and 

That to fall in a sink hole can mean the death of you

So Aladdin was by now beginning to panic

He was head first in a tunnel

and he could see a rabbit but the more he tried to twist and free himself

The further down he slid until darkness seemed to overcome him

And finally he closed his eye lids

With a twitch of his nose he sneezed and awoke

He could see a little rabbit who seemed to laugh at a joke

And down in this chamber hidden deep under ground

He was stuck in the upper quarter of the ceiling of the burrow

Somehow he freed and arm and then pulled on a root

And this action brought him down without harm

But with a thump

The rabbits scattered then meekly peaked their heads out

Where am I he thought?

Am I under the swamp?

The chamber was bigg enough for him to crawl along

On his hands and knees and a strange glowing light of green

glowed from underneath the trees - their roots held some

Algae or perhaps laces of fungi

That glowed iridescent in the dark

Suddenly a glow worm spun down and said

Hello Aladdin, my name's spark

Spark showed Aladdin the way through the cave system

And into and underground wonderland

He could see sticking out of all the walls

lots of artefacts of ancient archaeology 

There were 16th century pistols used by highway men, there were 

Anglo-Saxon treasures of helmets and spears

There were Roman chariot wheels, and shields and old sandals

There were even some Roman Catholic candles

There were iron age devices and fires and stoves

And stone age pottery and glowing glass globes

There were Victorian furniture -tables and chairs

And medieval cannons and the skeletons of bears

And it was like a museum of preserved treasures of the past

But what caught Aladdin's eye was of course the last

A shining golden lamp that had something in it

So that when he gave it a tap somebody said stop it

And so he handled this lamp between his fingers

And began to polish its edges and peer under the lid

And finally he thought well thumb it, so he gave it a rub

With the rub spewed forth this ancient Genie

The Genius of the levels trapped in a bottle

Like a message he came out