Mushroom Town

I find myself irrelevant
in the town of the mushroom folk,
the town rumoured to be hidden in the hill
or, if the scouts are right, 
under a manhole covered by a layer of autumn leaves. 

Those townsfolk seem to be a weird lot:
they are said to look quite similar to us,
but you sense something off when they look at you,
perhaps it’s the radiance in their eyes
or the mushroom cap on their back.

I used to have a friend who,
curious as he was, 
had visited the place once and got so impressed that
he became one of them
(the transformation allegedly doesn’t take long).
When he returned I 
asked him how it felt
he looked at me strangely and 
mumbled that 
he just feels numb and hellishly wants to drink.

13/11/21 Madstack