A FLOATING, a floating 
Across the sleeping sea, 
All night I heard a singing bird 
Upon the topmast tree. 
 
?Oh, came you from the isles of Greece 
Or from 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 sail?d them through.?