A FLOATING, a floating Across the sleeping sea, All night I heard a singing bird Upon the topmost tree. "Oh came you off the isles of Greece, Or off the banks of Seine; Or off some tree in forests free, Which fringe the western main?" "I came not off the old world Nor yet from off the new -- But I am one of the birds of God Which sing the whole night through." "Oh sing, and wake the dawning -- Oh whistle for the wind; The night is long, the current strong, My boat it lags behind." "The current sweeps the old world, The current sweeps the new; The wind will blow, the dawn will glow Ere thou hast sailed them through." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ON THE DEATH OF A CAT by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI THE HAND OF LINCOLN by EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN THE WAITER AND THE ALLIGATOR by G. W. A. THE POOR FARMER'S OFFERING by APOLLONIDES THE QUEEN IN FRANCE; AN ANCIENT SCOTTISH BALLAD by WILLIAM EDMONSTOUNE AYTOUN NETLEY ABBEY; A LEGEND OF HAMPSHIRE by RICHARD HARRIS BARHAM |