(note: This poem arose tangent to the picture prompt, which put me in mind of the Eugene Field poem, which you can read here: https://poets.org/poem/sugar-plum-tree)

The Lollypop Sea
– A golden shovel after the poem The Sugar-Plum Tree by Eugene Field

When we started, it seemed simple, or at least it
seemed doable – to sail to where the Sugar-Plum Tree blooms
in our wooden shoe boat. Ah, how foolish we were! To risk our lives on
the Lollypop Sea, a place notorious for storms of sticks the
size of alligators, a sea not of salt but of sticky syrup. Off from shore
we set sail on waters of various primary colors, not thinking of
the dangers of hyperglycemia, nor of the instability of our bulky craft, the
glory of those sweet treats looming large in our eyes, all lollypop
and caramel and taffy. No thought to this endless sticky sea –

which I fear now we shall never escape, our little boat in
ruins, our spirits all but lost. The horizon offers little hope in the
endless sameness of its swells. Gone are the thoughts of the garden
in which that magical tree grows, of aprons full of treats, of
bringing such riches back to our loved ones. Farewell, Village of Shut-Eye!
I must, somehow, get this crew safely back to our home town