Carol
Carol,
you came again
blown in from
the winter wind,
smiling to warm the night.
How did you know
I’d be alone?
We talked long,
read our poems,
drank tea, and then
you left
without ever
taking off your coat.
The Tea Party -- John Tenniel, from Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"
Lewis Carroll was actually the mathematician Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. He became fanous as the author of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" (1865) and its 1871 sequel "Through the Looking-Glass." He closed with the reflective epilogue:
ReplyDeleteA boat, beneath a sunny sky
Lingering onward dreamily
In an evening of July --
Children three that nestle near,
Eager eye and willing ear
Pleased a simple tale to hear --
Long has paled that sunny sky:
Echoes fade and memories die:
Autumn frosts have slain July.
Still she haunts me, phantomwise
Alice moving under skies
Never seen by waking eyes.
Children yet, the tale to hear,
Eager eye and willing ear,
Lovingly shall nestle near.
In a Wonderland they lie,
Dreaming as the days go by,
Dreaming as the summers die:
Ever drifting down the stream --
Lingering in the golden gleam --
Life what is it but a dream?