Once upon a time there was a little girl who had the remarkably good fortune to look down at a page when she was about three and was amazed that the little black marks on the white page made pictures in her brain.  On her fifth birthday she was given the set of Childcraft books above.  Recently I was able to find that 1949 set and replaced the long-lost editions.  I immediately opened Volume 2 to see if my memory of that particular book was accurate or some figment of my imagination.

There it was just as I remembered:   “The Highwayman” by Alfred Noyes.  Of all the poetry I have read in a long life, this was the one that turned me into a bookworm.  This was the one that sang in my head and the one that has stayed with me to be read to children and grandchildren.  Once you enter the magic world of poetry, you will never escape.

If you have never been captured by the story of the tragic eventually ghostly lovers, now is your chance with the lovely music & voice of Loreena McKennitt.