I fell in love with Alice
no, not Alice in Wonderland
nor through the looking glass
though this Alice famously
admired her reflection
in shop windows
as she walked down the town.
She was not the girl next door
eponymous heroine of the
bereft Smokie who
could not face a life without her
nor the Alice in the driving
White Rabbit pounded out
by Jefferson Airplane –
rather it was
the plaintive harmonies
of the McGarrigle sisters
reviving a parlour song
about a young girl
wearing her favourite blue gown
for the first time.
Little did I know that
this Alice was no homely teenager
but an American Princess
daughter of a President
denied her name for the tragic
loss of her mother due to childbirth
her father, Teddy, unable to bear
his newborn daughter’s namesake
she was condemned to be called
Baby Lee until years later
her father soothed by
a new wife and five more children.
A feisty girl and woman
Alice Roosevelt smoked
and shot at Telegraph poles
from moving trains
but I prefer to think of
the gentler image of
the girl in the song in her
Alice Blue Gown
“Till wilted I wore it
I’ll always adore it
My sweet little Alice blue gown…”
© Andrew Wilson, 2024
Alice Roosevelt was larger-than-life character whose story you can read here. Many notable witticisms are attributed to her.
Written for dVerse Poets Pub Posted by merrildsmith in Poetics