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The Night Bird: A Myth

By Charles Kingsley

Topics: classic

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.

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Author:Charles Kingsley

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Charles Kingsley

About Charles Kingsley

Charles Kingsley (1819–1875) was an English novelist, historian, and poet whose poem "The Three Fishers" and children's book "The Water-Babies" are Victorian classics. He was also a social reformer and advocate for "Christian Socialism."

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