Metaphor Caught in the Lap of Mind

Underground life, sighed Charles,
What is it but a dream?
You have ten minutes more
Then the phantoms will leave
You, phantomwise. You're late.
You're early. You're long gone.
Without outside culture
Know-how, your systems fail.
Your body has been built
To live within culture.
It's been millions of years
Since your last ancestor
Tough enough to survive
Life in wordless sunlight.
You're made by wonderland,
Your habitat among
Jokes, puns, manners, and dreams
Of arbitrary things
That cultivated you
Into a pocket watch
Dropped by a white rabbit
On bewildering heath.