Xanadu may refer to:
1 — An idealized place of great or idyllic magnificence and beauty
2 — Xanadu, China or Shangdu, the summer capital of Kublai Khan’s Yuan empire
3 — “Kubla Khan”, a poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, which popularized the name Xanadu for Shangdu
I’m posting two things here. First is the youtube song by Olivia Newton John. I like this tune. It is uplifting and exciting — very positive. The second is a poem that I like, but which has an earthier focus, written by Anthony (Ax).
Songs from the Dark Side of Xanadu
By Antony
Across the sacred river before the sea
A forest dense and dark, sparsely lit by sun and moon
Fragments filter through as beams that cut like lasers
Touch upon the ground where creatures scurry and avoid
Hide they try from demon eyes that snatch on prey
Where all that move within the light become victims of the night
Snails and slugs beneath the moss find peace
Rodents of every kind twitch and stitch inside hollowed trees
Snakes slither up to coil branches, as they lay, become one
Four legged beasts tremble, buried deep below the ground
Misty darkness hovers, a rolling fog, black as the devils heart
Devouring every ounce of life that roams about
In a world where dark rules over light
A speckled glow, orangey-red with a tail of glitter trails
It floats among the sleeping flowers spreading magic dust
To kiss its sorrowed petals awake
Colors of reds, yellows and greens scream as violets and blue begin to beam
The leaves in trees rustle with a glee as the sun rises high
Canopies open to view heavens gate as sparkles ignite
running with streams and rivers might
Faeries come by the plenty singing songs from the dark side of Xanadu
Paving the way for an entrance of two blessed unicorns
White as freshly fallen snow, soft as cotton spun by cherubs humming along
Their horns straight and true that point to a life of peace and harmony
A millennium ends for this sullen brittle land
To life it grows with the breath of salvations heart
Sparrows flying, eagles soaring, blackbirds harking heavy metal blues
Deer in the meadow, wolves howling on the hill
Butterflies and Dragonflies dance on the waves of the wind
Ogni cosa ha cagione
To say in life…
Everything has an underlying reason
Ax
How each of us views utopia is probably similar in the broader sense, but we may differ as we each conceive of the details. 
In the world of politics, the dark side of human nature emerges. Of course, it is always the others or the other side. Real world peace would be required long before we could begin to approach anything like utopia. It requires an egalitarian (equal) society and that is contrary to most politics I’ve ever seen. When I think politics, I see far more potential for dystopia and war.
Religion? While a great deal of good is done in the name of a deity and the respective religions, that good fades to virtually nothing when balanced against the historical inequality and current turmoil that seems to move more toward dystopia — more war.
I asked alcoholic and drug-addicted Texas prison parolees the following three questions while teaching secular recovery classes. I came up with these to help them find a world view that went farther than the tips of their fingers. My personal answers are utopian.
The confusion and struggle so many of us face in answering these questions is an interesting testimony to our nature. But we each have our personal utopia within our answers.
Our Literary Journey 