Dancing Dust
	Poems by Mollie Caird (1922-2000)
	Alice in Tom Quad
Home Alphabetic index of poems Thematic index of poems Biography Gallery Contact and links	On the high window-seat, nose pressed to the glass Stands Alice Liddell, as great Tom strikes four, Watching to see good Mr. Dodgson pass Across the Quad to knock the Dean's front door. The lawns below are segmented as clean As chessboard squares, where dance a merry troop Of lories, lobsters, mice.  The pond is green And round and beautiful as turtle soup; Poised in his pas de chat, young Mercury Smiles at the Carrolling, Caucus-racing host, Gay denizens of a new mythology. In blood-red robe, old Thomas Wolsey's ghost Starts at the horrid cry "Off with his head!", And melts into his unbuilt cloister's shade: The Cardinal, unlike the Dodo, dead, Knows, with the Cheshire Cat, just when to fade. But Mr. Dodgson climbs a storey higher To tea with Alice by the nursery fire. To mark the centenary of the publication of Alice in Wonderland, Alice's nursery on the second floor of the Deanery at Christ Church was opened to the public. Oxford Times, 9 June 1965