The market stands overflow, merchants ringing their bells as you hear the allure of their whispers
Each table more full than the next, piles of gypsy rags, golden trinkets, and magical elixirs
The sand as red as the horizon of the setting sun that lies ahead somewhere in the distance
Voices shout all around you, dripping with enchanting promises, filled with persistence
You were just passing through, this place one of many stops on the road to nowhere
Until you stumbled upon the last tent, drapes closed with a warning sign labeled beware
The vibrant colors draw you in, the entrancing beat seeping out impossible to ignore
A voice asks for a password before entering, that is, if you want to explore
Somehow you knew the word and the curtains open briefly to envelope you inside
The noises of the market begin to drown out, the begging and bartering immediately subsides
Before you, lit by only candlelight, a bottle flickers, pulling your eyes into a trance
The voice of a genie pours in from somewhere while the lava burns up and down in a dance
You'll get one wish and one wish only, so you must be careful with what you say -
For no wish is granted for free, there will be a price to pay
A drum beats low, steady and increasing, as you pondered what you could gain -
With a world at your fingertips, what's the use in restrain?
And so you whispered for that wish, begged the genie to show you what you didn't know
She gives you one last warning that once it is granted, it is not something you can forego
With no care for a debt, you nod to her and she begins to cast her spells
Then the ground dissolves and you are cast back out without so much as even a farewell
Back into reality you go, where time slithers like the serpent it really is
It draws bridges and opens doors, pulling you to knowledge with its' never ending hiss
The snake whispers in your ear - you can go anywhere you want, my friend
Now that you've drank the potion, there's no gravitational planar you can't transcend
You taste the fruits of labor, reap the lands that were sown for all they had
Years pass like hours, the garden always waiting to fulfill you when you're sad
Over time, the greenery dries up, every river and stream comes to a slow stop
A drought strangles this place, nothing more can grow, not a single crop
Where could it all have gone, how could it have disappeared?
You begged for this wish, for the product of something so perfectly engineered
So you whisper the password you gave so long ago in the hopes it will reach that fabled tent
Then the genie returns in the dead of night, come to see why you've got such a long face of lament
You cry to her to erase your memory of this place, to undo what you've come to know
That you've spent time in the promised land and now there's nothing of it to show
How are you to return to normalcy now that she's granted you this wish?
She says, you know what you asked for, wasn't it to know this?
You bartered for knowledge and knowledge was granted -
The seeds of this spell cannot now be supplanted
The soil around you is so dry, the Earth cracks beneath what once was there
Lush green filled with secrets, vibrant flowers grown from a prayer
Even in the barren wasteland, all you see is what's in your mind
The glow of the moon at night while the stars shined
The genie now long gone, leaving you with only the remnants of your dream
There's no more wishes to grant, no more golden tickets to redeem
With only a knapsack on your back, you begin the journey of return
Missing every exit along the way, taking every wrong turn
You find the way back to realizes in discomfort that everyone seems to be in the same place
That the world remained spinning around the sun while you transported to a different time in space
There's wretched attempts to describe something so ethereal yet no one seems to understand
For they've never been to a garden so in bloom, a place so grand
Rumor has it, you've never left the corner of that street
Not a day that's gone by where you don't try to evangelize everyone you meet
In hopes that one soul will have seen what your eyes once saw
That it's not only your remaining ghost who floats alone after all