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...IN WALKED BUD WITH A PALETTE by CLARENCE MAJOR ON THE TOMBS IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY by FRANCIS BEAUMONT THE SEA-MEW by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING EPIGRAM ENGRAVED ON THE COLLAR OF A DOG by ALEXANDER POPE ODES: BOOK 1: ODE 18. TO THE HON. FRANCIS EARL OF HUNTINGDON by MARK AKENSIDE A REED by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING |