'The rivers rush into the sea, <br />By castle and town they go; <br />The winds behind them merrily <br />Their noisy trumpets blow. <br /> <br />'The clouds are passing far and high, <br />We little birds in them play; <br />And everything, that can sing and fly, <br />Goes with us, and far away. <br /> <br />'I greet thee, bonny boat! Whither, or whence, <br />With thy fluttering golden band?'-- <br />'I greet thee, little bird! To the wide sea <br />I haste from the narrow land. <br /> <br />'Full and swollen is every sail; <br />I see no longer a hill, <br />I have trusted all to the sounding gale, <br />And it will not let me stand still. <br /> <br />'And wilt thou, little bird, go with us? <br />Thou mayest stand on the mainmast tall, <br />For full to sinking is my house <br />With merry companions all.'-- <br /> <br />'I need not and seek not company, <br />Bonny boat, I can sing all alone; <br />For the mainmast tall too heavy am I, <br />Bonny boat, I have wings of my own. <br /> <br />'High over the sails, high over the mast, <br />Who shall gainsay these joys? <br />When thy merry companions are still, at last, <br />Thou shalt hear the sound of my voice. <br /> <br />'Who neither may rest, nor listen may, <br />God bless them every one! <br />I dart away, in the bright blue day, <br />And the golden fields of the sun. <br /> <br />'Thus do I sing my merry song, <br />Wherever the four winds blow; <br />And this same song, my whole life long, <br />Neither Poet nor Printer may know.'<br /><br />Henry Wadsworth Longfellow<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-bird-and-the-ship-from-the-german-of-m-ller/
