Lewis Carroll - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Epigraph lyrics

ALL in the golden afternoon Full leisurely we glide; For both our oars, with little sk**, By little arms are plied, While little hands make vain pretence Our wanderings to guide. Ah, cruel Three! In such an hour Beneath such dreamy weather, To beg a tale of breath too weak To stir the tiniest feather! Yet what can one poor voice avail Against three tongues together? IImperious Prima flashes forth Her edict ``to begin it'': In gentler tones Secunda hopes ``There will be nonsense in it!'' While Tertia interrupts the tale Not more than once a minute. Anon, to sudden silence won, In fancy they pursue The dream-child moving through a land Of wonders wild and new, In friendly chat with bird or beast-- And half believe it true. And ever, as the story drained The wells of fancy dry, And faintly strove that weary one To put the subject by ``The rest next time--'' ``It is next time!'' The happy voices cry. Thus grew the tale of Wonderland: Thus slowly, one by one, Its quaint events were hammered out-- And now the tale is done, And home we steer, a merry crew, Beneath the setting sun. Alice! A childish story take, And with a gentle hand, Lay it where Childhood's dreams are twined In Memory's mystic band, Like pilgrim's wither'd wreath of flowers Pluck'd in a far-off land.