Henry Wadsworth Longfellow — The Bird and the Ship

       &nbsp "The rivers rush into the sea,        &nbsp By castle and town they go; The winds behind them merrily        &nbsp Their noisy trumpets blow.        &nbsp "The clouds are passing far and high,        &nbsp We little birds in them play; And everything, that can sing and fly,        &nbsp Goes with us, and far away.        &nbsp "I greet thee, bonny boat! Whither,        &nbsp       &nbsp or whence,        &nbsp With thy fluttering golden band?"—        &nbsp "I greet thee, little bird! To the wide sea        &nbsp I haste from the narrow land.        &nbsp "Full and swollen is every sail;        &nbsp I see no longer a hill, I have trusted all to the sounding gale,        &nbsp And it will not let me stand still.        &nbsp "And wilt thou, little bird, go with us?        &nbsp Thou mayest stand on the mainmast tall, For full to sinking is my house        &nbsp With merry companions all."—        &nbsp "I need not and seek not company,        &nbsp Bonny boat, I can sing all alone; For the mainmast tall too heavy am I,        &nbsp Bonny boat, I have wings of my own. "High over the sails, high over the mast,        &nbsp Who shall gainsay these joys? When thy merry companions are still, at last,        &nbsp Thou shalt hear the sound of my voice.        &nbsp "Who neither may rest, nor listen may,        &nbsp God bless them every one! I dart away, in the bright blue day,        &nbsp And the golden fields of the sun. "Thus do I sing my merry song,        &nbsp Wherever the four winds blow; And this same song, my whole life long,        &nbsp Neither Poet nor Printer may know.'