"A Boat Beneath a Summer Sky" by Lewis Carroll

Lewis Carroll was the author of "Alice in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass" - his poems and stories are popular with children, adults, and scholars. From POL: "His nonsense poetry and invented language create clear images of fantastic landscapes, animals, and heroes. 

A Boat Beneath a Summer 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 gleam —
Life, what is it but a dream?

The poem's reference to "Alice" is sure to peak the interest of any reader who is familiar with Alice in Wonderland. Any scholar will recognize the depth of this allusion and the reality of Carroll's obsession with "Alice." Here, Alice is one child who "nestle[d] near, / eager eye and willing ear" and who has moved on to adulthood. The poem focuses on the children, who used to sit in the narrator's boat and listen to his stories, and eventually grow older as "Echoes face and memories die: / Autumn frosts have slain July." The imagery in this stanza and the others, where the three lines (tercet) involves a repeated metaphor, seems to bring the poem deeper and deeper. There is a progression, not just in chronology (the aging of the children), but also in the depth of what is being wondered at in the poem. The extended metaphor of "drifting" in a boat towards adulthood is carried throughout, although the locality of "Wonderland" is added and the image becomes more and more abstract as the narration develops.

http://www.poetryoutloud.org/poem/173163