A floating, a floating <br />Across the sleeping sea, <br />All night I heard a singing bird <br />Upon the topmost tree. <br /> <br />'Oh came you off the isles of Greece, <br />Or off the banks of Seine; <br />Or off some tree in forests free, <br />Which fringe the western main?' <br /> <br />'I came not off the old world <br />Nor yet from off the new- <br />But I am one of the birds of God <br />Which sing the whole night through.' <br /> <br />'Oh sing, and wake the dawning- <br />Oh whistle for the wind; <br />The night is long, the current strong, <br />My boat it lags behind.' <br /> <br />'The current sweeps the old world, <br />The current sweeps the new; <br />The wind will blow, the dawn will glow <br />Ere thou hast sailed them through.' <br /> <br /> <br />Eversley, 1848.<br /><br />Charles Kingsley<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-night-bird-a-myth/
