THE GOOD SHIP “ROSA LEE.”
“Gayly, gayly, over the sea,
Over the sea and faar away,
Sail, my good ship ‘Rosa Lee,’
Bring ivory, silk, and gold to me
In another summer’s sunniest day.
“Ever and ever so many a mile,
Deep in the endless, hazy blue,
Is a golden shore and a spicy isle;
The orange blooms there all the while;
And the monkeys laugh at the kangaroo.
“Purple and yellow and emerald-green,
The parrots flit in the groves of palm;
Like sparks of living fire are seen
The humming-birds that hover between
The scarlet blooms in a tropic calm.
“Over the blue, unending sea
Sail away, and into the west,
Till the west is east; then come to me,
Freighted as full as full can be
Of all that misty island’s best,—
“Dust of gold and apples of gold,
A kangaroo, and a monkey or two,
A cage of parrots ot laugh and scold,
And a silken web, that, when unrolled,
Would reach to the moon, and back to you.”
The boy lets slip his cedarn boat;
Gaily she scuds before the breeze,
With a steady helm, till, far remote,
Only a dim, white speck afloat
Is the last glimpse of her that ever he sees.
No matter! His thoughts sail far and free
With his good ship, and he finds new joy
In learning of lands beyond the sea;
And this is the freight of his “Rosa Lee,”—
Better than gold to the eager boy.
