Posted 12:24 AM by Blah blah

I've always liked these two poems, from when I first read them as a child. They express both the wistfulness and restlessness I feel:

A Boat Beneath A Sunny 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 dream --
Life, what is it but a dream?

- Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
(Notice combining the first letters of every line in this poem gives you "Alice Pleasance Liddell," who was the real Alice on whom Lewis Carroll modelled his storybook Alice. Last year I went to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and was lucky enough to see some of Carroll's original photos of Alice and her friends, plus other little girls he adored.)

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

The Road goes ever on and on
Out from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
Let others follow it who can!
Let them a journey new begin,
But I at last with weary feet
Will turn towards the lighted inn,
My evening-rest and sleep to meet.

-- J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings