The (almost really) Complete Works of Lewis Carroll

Double Acrostic (Argles)

Source: sent to Miss E. M. Argles, 1869

I sing a place wherein agree
All things on land that fairest be,
All that is sweetest of the sea.

Nor can I break the silken knot
That binds my memory to the spot
And friends too dear to be forgot.


On rocky brow we loved to stand
And watch in silence, hand in hand,
The shadows veiling sea and land.

Then dropped the breeze; no vessel passed:
So silent stood each taper mast,
You would have deemed it chained and fast.

Above the blue and fleecy sky:
Below, the waves that quivering lie,
Like crispèd curls of greenery.

“A sail!” resounds from every lip.
Mizen, no, square-sail—ah, you trip!
Edith, it cannot be a ship!

So home again from sea and beach,
One nameless feeling thrilling each.
A sense of beauty, passing speech.

Let lens and tripod be unslung!
“Dolly!” ’s the word on every tongue;
Dolly must sit, for she is young!

Photography shall change her face,
Distort it with uncouth grimace—
Make her bloodthirsty, fierce, and base.

I end my song while scarce begun;
For I should want, ere all was done,
Four weeks to tell the tale of one:

And I should need as large a hand,
To paint a scene so wild and grand,
As he who traversed Egypt’s land.

What say you, Edith? Will it suit ye?
Reject it, if it fails in beauty:
You know your literary duty!

On the rail between Torquay and Guildford, Sep. 28, 1869.