A Boat Beneath a Sunny Sky [Lewis Carroll poem set to music]
Channel: tobydarling
Date: 04/09/2013

This poem appears in Through The Looking Glass, published in 1872. The first letter of each line spells out Alice's full name. It has a lovely dreamy quality which makes it a nice poem to work with.

The river in the video is the River Itchen, just south of Winchester.

A Boat beneath a Sunny Sky
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 dream --
Life, what is it but a dream?