“THE RIVERS rush into the sea, | |
| By castle and town they go; | |
| The winds behind them merrily | |
| Their noisy trumpets blow. | |
| |
| “The clouds are passing far and high, | 5 |
| We little birds in them play; | |
| And everything, that can sing and fly, | |
| Goes with us, and far away. | |
| |
| “I greet thee, bonny boat! Whither, or whence, | |
| With thy fluttering golden band?”— | 10 |
| “I greet thee, little bird! To the wide sea | |
| I haste from the narrow land. | |
| |
| “Full and swollen is every sail; | |
| I see no longer a hill, | |
| I have trusted all to the sounding gale, | 15 |
| And it will not let me stand still. | |
| |
| “And wilt thou, little bird, go with us? | |
| Thou mayest stand on the mainmast tall, | |
| For full to sinking is my house | |
| With merry companions all.”— | 20 |
| |
| “I need not and seek not company, | |
| Bonny boat, I can sing all alone; | |
| For the mainmast tall too heavy am I, | |
| Bonny boat, I have wings of my own. | |
| |
| “High over the sails, high over the mast, | 25 |
| Who shall gainsay these joys? | |
| When thy merry companions are still, at last, | |
| Thou shalt hear the sound of my voice. | |
| |
| “Who neither may rest, nor listen may, | |
| God bless them every one! | 30 |
| I dart away, in the bright blue day, | |
| And the golden fields of the sun. | |
| |
| “Thus do I sing my weary song, | |
| Wherever the four winds blow; | |
| And this same song, my whole life long, | 35 |
| Neither Poet nor Printer may know.” | |
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