The Star Wars Nutcracker

I am at the Ohio Theatre in downtown Columbus
with wife and kids in tow to see the Nutcracker.
The lights fall and the curtain lifts to reveal a party.
I feel the warmth of my sweater weighing me down
as Herr Drosselmeyer makes a one-eyed introduction
and casts a hypnotic spell over my weary bones.
I feel Clara's tug into the dark world of dreams and
as the triangular tree grows to gargantuan size it
transforms into a Star Destroyer cruising overhead.
Mice in white helmets scurry from the fireplace which
has transformed into the ramp of a troop transporter.
Jedi Nutcrackers meet them in choreographed lines,
drawing swords that glow and crackle with a blue fire,
their brown hooded robes flitting and fluttering like fairies.
A rhonchus rat twice the size of the others and fully
shrouded in black descends the ramp ominously and...
"Dad!  Wake up, you're missing the Sugar Plum Fairy!"
It is my daughter in the seat next to mine, her eyes
narrowed and accusing, but I am just a tired old man.


***