What is it but a dream?

In the spirit of the acronym, today's peom shall be an acrostic: acros coming from Greek and meaning “end or outermost.” It's from Through the Looking Glass (1871) and is built on the full name of the real-life Alice: Alice Pleasance Liddell. You'll notice the similarity to a well-known nursery rhyme, which I discovered predates the poem by at least a couple of decades. The first printing of “Row, row, row your boat” was in 1852, so no doubt it was being sung by Victorian children for some years prior. What better, on a wintery Friday, to drift into the dreamy world of Lewis Carroll?

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?