Complete Works of Lewis Carroll (135 page)

TWO THIEVES

(To the Misses Drury.)

Two thieves went out to steal one day

Thinking that no one knew it:

Three little maids, I grieve to say,

Encouraged them to do it.

'Tis sad that little children should

Encourage men in stealing!

But these, I've always understood,

Have got no proper feeling.

An aged friend, who chanced to pass

Exactly at the minute,

Said “Children!
Take this Looking-glass,

And see your badness in it.”

Jan.
11, 1872.

TWO ACROSTICS

(To Miss Ruth Dymes.)

Round the wondrous globe I wander wild,

Up and down-hill—Age succeeds to youth—

Toiling all in vain to find a child

Half so loving, half so dear as Ruth.

(To Miss Margaret Dymes.)

Maidens, if a maid you meet

Always free from pout and pet,

Ready smile and temper sweet,

Greet my little Margaret.

And if loved by all she be

Rightly, not a pampered pet,

Easily you then may see

'Tis my little Margaret.

DOUBLE ACROSTIC

The first and last letters of captions form the double acrostic.

Two little girls near London dwell,

More naughty than I like to tell.

TurF

Upon the lawn the hoops are seen:

The balls are rolling on the green.

RiveR

The Thames is running deep and wide:

And boats are rowing on the tide.

IcE

In winter-time, all in a row,

The happy skaters come and go.

NoD

“Papa!”
they cry, “Do let us stay!”

He does not speak, but says they may.

AfricA

“There is a land,” he says, “my dear,

Which is too hot to skate, I fear.”

ACROSTIC

 “Are you deaf, Father William?”
the young man said,

“Did you hear what I told you just now?

“Excuse me for shouting!
Don't waggle your head

“Like a blundering, sleepy old cow!

“A little maid dwelling in Wallington Town,

“Is my friend, so I beg to remark:

“Do you think she'd be pleased if a book were sent down

“Entitled ‘The Hunt of the Snark?’”

“Pack it up in brown paper!”
the old man cried,

“And seal it with olive-and-dove.

“I command you to do it!”
he added with pride,

“Nor forget, my good fellow, to send her beside

“Easter Greetings, and give her my love.”

1876.

ACROSTIC

 “Maidens!
if you love the tale,

If you love the Snark,

Need I urge you, spread the sail,

Now, while freshly blows the gale,

In your ocean-barque!

“English Maidens love renown,

Enterprise, and fuss!”

Laughingly those Maidens frown;

Laughingly, with eyes cast down;

And they answer thus:

“English Maidens fear to roam.

Much we dread the dark;

Much we dread what ills might come,

If we left our English home,

Even for a Snark!”

Apr.
6, 1876.

ACROSTIC

Love-lighted eyes, that will not start

At frown of rage or malice!

Uplifted brow, undaunted heart

Ready to dine on raspberry-tart

Along with fairy Alice!

In scenes as wonderful as if

She'd flitted in a magic skiff

Across the sea to Calais:

Be sure this night, in Fancy's feast,

Even till Morning gilds the east,

Laura will dream of Alice!

Perchance, as long years onward haste,

Laura will weary of the taste

Of Life's embittered chalice:

May she, in such a woeful hour,

Endued with Memory's mystic power,

Recall the dreams of Alice!

June 17, 1876.

TO M.
A.
B.

(To Miss Marion Terry, “Mary Ann Bessie Terry.”)

The royal MAB, dethroned, discrowned

By fairy rebels wild,

Has found a home on English ground,

And lives an English child.

I know it, Maiden, when I see

A fairy-tale upon your knee—

And note the page that idly lingers

Beneath those still and listless fingers—

And mark those dreamy looks that stray

To some bright vision far away,

Still seeking, in the pictured story,

The memory of a vanished glory.

ACROSTIC

(To Miss Marion Terry.)

Maiden, though thy heart may quail

And thy quivering lip grow pale,

Read the Bellman's tragic tale!

Is it life of which it tells?

Of a pulse that sinks and swells

Never lacking chime of bells?

Bells of sorrow, bells of cheer,

Easter, Christmas, glad New Year,

Still they sound, afar, anear.

So may Life's sweet bells for thee,

In the summers yet to be,

Evermore make melody!

Aug.
15, 1876.

MADRIGAL

(To Miss May Forshall.)

He shouts amain, he shouts again,

(Her brother, fierce, as bluff King Hal),

“I tell you flat, I shall do that!”

She softly whispers “‘
May
’ for ‘
shall
’!”

He wistful sighed one eventide

(Her friend, that made this Madrigal),

“And shall I kiss you, pretty Miss!”

Smiling she answered “‘
May
’ for ‘
shall
’!”

With eager eyes my reader cries,

“Your friend must be indeed a val-

-uable child, so sweet, so mild!

What do you call her?”
“May For shall.”

Dec.
24, 1877.

LOVE AMONG THE ROSES - ACROSTIC

“Seek ye Love, ye fairy-sprites?

Ask where reddest roses grow.

Rosy fancies he invites,

And in roses he delights,

Have ye found him?”
“No!”

“Seek again, and find the boy

In Childhood's heart, so pure and clear.”

Now the fairies leap for joy,

Crying, “Love is here!”

“Love has found his proper nest;

And we guard him while he dozes

In a dream of peace and rest

Rosier than roses.”

Jan.
3, 1878.

TWO POEMS TO RACHEL DANIEL

I

[“Oh pudgy podgy pup!]

“Oh pudgy podgy pup!

Why
did
they wake you up?

Those crude nocturnal yells

Are
not
like silver bells:

Nor ever would recall

Sweet Music's ‘dying fall.’

They rather bring to mind

The bitter winter wind

Through keyholes shrieking shrilly

When nights are dark and chilly:

Or like some dire duett,

Or quarrelsome quartette,

Of cats who chant their joys

With execrable noise,

And murder Time and Tune

To vex the patient Moon!”

Nov.
1880.

II

FOR “THE GARLAND OF RACHEL” (1881)

What hand may wreathe thy natal crown,

O tiny tender Spirit-blossom,

That out of Heaven hast fluttered down

Into this Earth's cold bosom?

And how shall mortal bard aspire—

All sin-begrimed and sorrow-laden—

To welcome, with the Seraph-choir,

A pure and perfect Maiden?

Are not God's minstrels ever near,

Flooding with joy the woodland mazes?

Which shall we summon, Baby dear,

To carol forth thy praises?

With sweet sad song the Nightingale

May soothe the broken hearts that languish

Where graves are green—the orphans' wail,

The widow's lonely anguish:

The Turtle-dove with amorous coo

May chide the blushing maid that lingers

To twine her bridal wreath anew

With weak and trembling fingers:

But human loves and human woes

Would dim the radiance of thy glory—

Only the Lark such music knows

As fits thy stainless story.

The world may listen as it will—

She recks not, to the skies up-springing:

Beyond our ken she singeth still

For very joy of singing.

THE LYCEUM

“It is the lawyer's daughter,

And she is grown so dear, so dear,

She costs me, in one evening,

The income of a year!

‘You can't have children's love,’ she cried,

‘Unless you choose to fee 'em!’

‘And what's your fee, child?’
I replied.

She simply said ———

“We saw ‘The Cup.’”
I
hoped
she'd say,

“I'm grateful to you, very.”

She murmured, as she turned away,

“That lovely [Ellen Terry.]

“Compared with her, the rest,” she cried,

“Are just like two or three um-

“berellas standing side by side!

“Oh, gem of ———

“We saw Two Brothers.
I confess

To
me
they seemed one man.

“Now which is which, child?
Can you guess?”

She cried, “A-course I can!”

Bad puns like this I
always
dread,

And am resolved to flee 'em.

And so I left her there, and fled;

She
lives
at ———

1881.

ACROSTIC

[Around my lonely hearth to-night]

Around my lonely hearth to-night,

Ghostlike the shadows wander:

Now here, now there, a childish sprite,

Earthborn and yet as angel bright,

Seems near me as I ponder.

Gaily she shouts: the laughing air

Echoes her note of gladness—

Or bends herself with earnest care

Round fairy-fortress to prepare

Grim battlement or turret-stair—

In childhood's merry madness!

New raptures still hath youth in store.

Age may but fondly cherish

Half-faded memories of yore—

Up, craven heart!
repine no more!

Love stretches hands from shore to shore:

Love is, and shall not perish!