A FLORIDA BOATING SONG

Down thro Florida keys,

From island, to island!

Down thro Florida keys,

Where mangrove roots dip in the seas!

A myriad tangled roots

From each palmetto byland,

Oyster-encrusted roots mid which

The heron wades in the shallow shades!

Down thro Florida keys,

Around them, between them,

Thro low green Florida keys,

So low they scarce seem born of the seas!

Where pouchy pelicans roost

On cypresses that lean them

Out over the idle lap of the tide

That comes and goes with balmy flows!

Down thro Florida keys,

Thro mazes on mazes

Of ripple-encircled keys,

Where sun and wind play as they please!

Where the eaglet, high in air,

Or the wild white ibis, dazes

Eyes that follow them up the blue,

As the heart would do, the heart too!

Down thro Florida keys

I'm going, I'm going!

Thro low green Florida keys

And greener glades of Florida seas!

And this is all I know,

That all in the world worth knowing

Is joy like that of the tarpon's leap

In air divine with the warm sunshine!