This weeka short episode. It comes from the work of Lucy Lane Clifford, who provided the hollow faerie protagonist of “From Out of the World” last month and the creepy “New Mother” from the month before. I’m notsure what I want to do with it/ I think it’s a faerie regio.
This poem was read into the public domain by Val Grimm through LibriVox: thanks to Val
***
I SAILED away in a paper ship,
I sailed away and away,
And never did sailor sail so far,
And never was sail so gay.
I sailed away to an unknown land,
Beyond an unknown sea,
Where all the people were dolls, my dear,
And all of them talked to me.
The town was built of card and paint,
The gardens were made of tin ;
And dolls looked out at the windows, dear,
And all of them asked me in.
And dolls sat round on the chairs inside ;
They all were dressed so fine ;
They stared at a clock that never had ticked,
And was ever at half-past nine.
” What shall we do to be real ? ” they cried,
” What shall we do to be real ?
We none of us feel, though we look so nice,
And talk of the vague ideal.”
And all of them seemed to know so much,
But none of them laughed or sang ;
And none of the fires had ever a blaze,
And none of the bells e’er rang.
And people walked and talked of life,
And all of them looked so grave ;
Yet none of them ever had life, my dear,
Or ever a soul to save.
I fled away to the woods and fields ;
The trees were stuck with glue ;
And even the sky was false, my dear,
And painted a lovely blue.
And dogs and sheep and cows were there,
And all of them stared at me.
With large glass eyes that never had blinked,
And never a one could see.
I sailed away in a paper ship,
Away on an unknown sea ;
And all the fishes were hollow, my dear,
And all of them swam at me.
But on and on and on I sailed
; I met a great wet seal,
He looked at me with two dim eyes,
And turned upon his heel.
The strangest sail that never was sailed,
And sight that never was seen –
The sail I sailed in my paper ship,-
The land that never has been.
Games From Folktales 