| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895. |
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| A Myth |
| | | Charles Kingsley (1819–75) |
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| A FLOATING, a floating | |
| Across the sleeping sea, | |
| All night I heard a singing bird | |
| Upon the topmast tree. | |
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| “Oh, came you from the isles of Greece | 5 |
| Or from the banks of Seine; | |
| Or off some tree in forests free, | |
| Which fringe the western main?” | |
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| “I came not off the old world | |
| Nor yet from off the new— | 10 |
| But I am one of the birds of God | |
| Which sing the whole night through.” | |
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| “Oh, sing and wake the dawning— | |
| Oh, whistle for the wind; | |
| The night is long, the current strong, | 15 |
| My boat it lags behind.” | |
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| “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.” | 20 |
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