The Asylum — 1920

             The Asylum — 1920

No one knew why when he suddenly stopped,
but the lunatic's cries, for silence was swapped.
For years he had raved of outrageous events,
"Klingons" and "Vulcans" — his words made no sense.

He claimed to be captain of a ship up in space,
but had stepped through a portal and time was displaced.
"Beam me up Scotty", was his daily request,
and odder yet was, that he spoke to his chest.

He ranted of Tribbles, of Khan and of "Q",
and how alien creatures tormented his crew.
So the staff was perplexed when this once violent coot,
in a straightjacket turned blind, deaf and mute.

                                  

Like a crippled space ship, Kirk now drifts in his mind.
Had he actually left the asylum behind?
Or merely just opened insanity's door
and boldy jumped through . . . wait . . . he's been here before!
This space full of faces and places he's been
must have a clue to the mess that he's in.

As if he was back on the Enterprise now,
Kirk warps through his mind as best he knows how.
When out of the darkness a doorway appears
and instantly Kirk understands what he fears.
The Guardian of Forever is beckoning him —
its mysterious surface, ever shifting within.

"Welcome James Kirk, you've returned here at last —
back to my portal and all of Earth's past.
Here's where you'll watch as history unfolds
then cross to 'what was' while your history's retold.
Just pick out an era and jump right on through
where tomorrows are yesterdays like deja vu."

He steps through the haze and draws a deep breath,
will this be his freedom or is this just death?
Kirk never remembers he's passed through before
and likely he'll cross here a million times more.
And now at the gateway, a rumbling begins
as all that once was collapses within.

                                  

Gurney wheels rumble down asylum hallways,
as a sheet-covered madman is taken away.
The doctor now adds final notes in his file:
in the case of James Kirk, shock treatment — futile.




note: The "Guardian of Forever" was taken from a Star Trek script, "The City on the Edge of Forever" created by Harlan Ellison.