The Night Bird: A Myth

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.'

Eversley, 1848.