Prologue & Epilogue to Looking Glass Lewis Carroll

 Prologue

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 to 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.

Epilogue 

A 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?