How long I sail’d, and never took a thought

[ZaunköniG]

How long I sail’d, and never took a thought
To what port I was bound! Secure as sleep,
I dwelt upon the bosom of the deep
And perilous sea. And though my ship was fraught

With rare and precious fancies, jewels brought
From fairy-land, no course I cared to keep,
Nor changeful wind nor tide I heeded ought,
But joy’d to feel the merry billows leap,

And watch the sunbeams dallying with the waves;
Or haply dream what realms beneath may lie
Where the clear ocean is an emerald sky,

And mermaids warble in their coral caves,
Yet vainly woo me to their secret home; -
And sweet it were for ever so to roam.