The good news is that comments seem to be back, but I'm using IE instead of Chrome, just to be sure!
If you read my other blog, you might know that it is the 150th anniversary of the publication of Alice in Wonderland this year. And I am pleased that the charity, POEMS IN THE WAITING ROOM has agreed to use a poem by Lewis Carroll in 2015. POEMS IN THE WAITING ROOM supplies leaflets containing four or five uplifting, interesting or amusing poems to doctors' surgeries.
PEACE
Peace flows into me
As the tide to the pool by the shore
It is mine for evermore
It ebbs not back like the sea.
I am the pool of blue
that worships the vivid sky;
My hopes were heaven-high,
They are all fulfilled in you
I am the pool of gold
When sunset burns and dies -
You are my deepening skies;
Give me your stars to hold.
--
We have supported PITWR for years and it seems that the poems are much appreciated. So anyway, I have been talking with other members of the Lewis Carroll Society to try and find a poem to submit. It is surprisingly hard! Although we are of course all big fans of "Alice," the fact is that not everyone likes the books, and in fact some people can find them rather frightening.
So my favourite is this one, which is not from "Alice" but was written when Lewis Carroll was watching a little girl playing with her doll. It's a simple little thing called BESSIE'S SONG TO HER DOLL. I never played with dolls myself much as a child, actually, but this little poem reminds me so much of when I used to sit watching my own daughters playing with their beloved dolls, and it makes me feel happy.
What do you think? Do you think it's a good topic for a waiting room poem?
BESSIE'S SONG TO HER DOLL, MATILDA JANE
Matilda Jane, you never look
At any toy or picture-book.
I show you pretty things in vain--
You must be blind, Matilda Jane!
I ask you riddles, tell you tales,
But all our conversation fails.
You never answer me again--
I fear you're dumb, Matilda Jane!
Matilda darling, when I call,
You never seem to hear at all.
I shout with all my might and main--
But you're so deaf, Matilda Jane!
Matilda Jane, you needn't mind,
For, though you're deaf and dumb and blind,
There's SOMEONE loves you, it is plain--
And that is ME, Matilda Jane!
I imagine Matilda Jane - the real one - was a wax doll. My elder daughter got entirely into wax dolls when she was 3, and we read an Edwardian picture book about a wax doll whose owner took it in the sun. It melted in the heat, and this idea completely fascinated her. We had nothing but wax dolls for about a year after that!
And thinking about dolls, I realised I hadn't ever shown you the dolls I photographed a couple of years ago when I went to the wonderful doll museum in Coburg, Germany. Any favourites in the following photos?
]
Seem to be having a bit of a run of toy museums at the moment! I recommend this one, and also Coburg, which is a most interesting town.
If you read my other blog, you might know that it is the 150th anniversary of the publication of Alice in Wonderland this year. And I am pleased that the charity, POEMS IN THE WAITING ROOM has agreed to use a poem by Lewis Carroll in 2015. POEMS IN THE WAITING ROOM supplies leaflets containing four or five uplifting, interesting or amusing poems to doctors' surgeries.
The poems are a mixture of light and serious, and they aim to give patients something good to think about at a time when they might be anxious and worried; to remind them that there is more to life than illness, and that we can face difficulties with courage and humour. For instance the leaflet above had poems about the First World War, and contained this one, by Sara Teasdale, (1884 - 1933), which I liked very much:
PEACE
Peace flows into me
As the tide to the pool by the shore
It is mine for evermore
It ebbs not back like the sea.
I am the pool of blue
that worships the vivid sky;
My hopes were heaven-high,
They are all fulfilled in you
I am the pool of gold
When sunset burns and dies -
You are my deepening skies;
Give me your stars to hold.
--
We have supported PITWR for years and it seems that the poems are much appreciated. So anyway, I have been talking with other members of the Lewis Carroll Society to try and find a poem to submit. It is surprisingly hard! Although we are of course all big fans of "Alice," the fact is that not everyone likes the books, and in fact some people can find them rather frightening.
So my favourite is this one, which is not from "Alice" but was written when Lewis Carroll was watching a little girl playing with her doll. It's a simple little thing called BESSIE'S SONG TO HER DOLL. I never played with dolls myself much as a child, actually, but this little poem reminds me so much of when I used to sit watching my own daughters playing with their beloved dolls, and it makes me feel happy.
What do you think? Do you think it's a good topic for a waiting room poem?
BESSIE'S SONG TO HER DOLL, MATILDA JANE
Matilda Jane, you never look
At any toy or picture-book.
I show you pretty things in vain--
You must be blind, Matilda Jane!
I ask you riddles, tell you tales,
But all our conversation fails.
You never answer me again--
I fear you're dumb, Matilda Jane!
Matilda darling, when I call,
You never seem to hear at all.
I shout with all my might and main--
But you're so deaf, Matilda Jane!
Matilda Jane, you needn't mind,
For, though you're deaf and dumb and blind,
There's SOMEONE loves you, it is plain--
And that is ME, Matilda Jane!
I imagine Matilda Jane - the real one - was a wax doll. My elder daughter got entirely into wax dolls when she was 3, and we read an Edwardian picture book about a wax doll whose owner took it in the sun. It melted in the heat, and this idea completely fascinated her. We had nothing but wax dolls for about a year after that!
And thinking about dolls, I realised I hadn't ever shown you the dolls I photographed a couple of years ago when I went to the wonderful doll museum in Coburg, Germany. Any favourites in the following photos?
]Seem to be having a bit of a run of toy museums at the moment! I recommend this one, and also Coburg, which is a most interesting town.
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