Promptly Poetry

Nostalgia for an Age I Never Knew

Nostalgia for an Age I Never Knew

The Mole and his new friend,
the Water Rat, in prospect of a picnic
on a warm, summer’s day
in England, being types of the gentry
of the early twentieth century,
so attractive in its decency,
good manners and simplicity,
a picnic by the river bank no less
and, having asked, the Mole, regaled
with a list of necessities
for the perfect meal in a hamper,
is overwhelmed by the Rat’s largesse.
Here lies the true charm of the book,
that evocation of peaceful times
in the summer-warmed fields,
simple pleasures for a simple time
and all cares and woes
carried away by the laughing river
and two friends, content to be lazy,
whose highest ambition
is a sandwich and glass of lemonade
consumed in the sun and the shade.
It was another age
but one that lives forever
in our hearts.


Line Count: 25
Free Verse
For Promptly Poetry, Week 9
Prompt: Go to a book you love. Find a short line that strikes you. Make that line the title of your poem. Write a poem inspired by the line. Then, after you’ve finished, change the title completely. Somewhere at the bottom, place a note telling us the line and the source. A minimum line count of eight, please.
Note: The book chosen was The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, from which I picked this sentence (I know it’s long but it doesn’t make sense if shortened):

'There's cold chicken inside it,' replied the Rat briefly; 'coldtonguecoldhamcoldbeefpickledgherkinssaladfrenchrollscresssandwichespotted-meatgingerbeerlemonadesodawater—' 'O stop, stop,' cried the Mole in ecstasies: 'This is too much!'