..a girl in Wonderland…

Alice in Wonderland…

by Lewis Carrol

• Child of the pure unclouded brow
• And dreaming eyes of wonder!
• Though time be fleet, and I and thou
• Are half a life asunder,
• Thy loving smile will surely hail
• The love-gift of a fairy-tale.
• • I have not seen thy sunny face,
  • Nor heard thy silver laughter:
  • No thought of me shall find a place
  • In thy young life’s hereafter—
  • Enough that now thou wilt not fail
  • To listen to my fairy-tale.
• • A tale begun in other days,
  • When summer suns were glowing—
  • A simple chime, that served in time
  • The rhythm of our rowing—
  • Whose echoes live in memory yet,
  • Though envious years would say “forget”.
• • Come, hearken then, ere voice of dread,
  • With bitter tidings laden,
  • Shall summon to unwelcome bed
  • A melancholy maiden!
  • We are but older children, dear,
  • Who fret to find our bedtime near.
• • Without, the frost, the blinding snow,
  • The storm-wind’s moody madness—
  • Within, the firelight’s ruddy glow,
  • And childhood’s nest of gladness.
  • The magic words shall hold thee fast:
  • Thou shalt not heed the raving blast.
• • And, though the shadow of a sigh
  • May tremble through the story,
  • For “happy summer days” gone by,
  • And vanish’d summer glory—
  • It shall not touch with breath of bale,
  • The pleasance of our fairy-tale.

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