Classic Poem

Sunbeams that flicker! with laughter and song
A vessel that merrily swings along!
With a lightsome heart and comrades dear
I sat inside with never a fear.

But the ship was wrecked and fell asunder;
My friends, weak swimmers all, went under.
By the Fatherland they sank in the sea;
To the shores o the Seine the storm bore me.

And now I sit in another boat;
With comrades new I toss and float
On foreign billows, without a chart—
My home how far! How sad my heart!

And we sing and we laugh, o'er the waters driven—
But the wind pipes up, and the planks are riven—
Quenched in the sky is the last lone star—
How sad my heart! My home how far!