Classic Poem

The Captain's glass was peering far ahead;
In open sea beyond the reefs we were,
When, buoyant-hearted, our Young Passenger,
Beaming around with eager vision, said,
" Where is the Gulf-Stream of which I have read
In Maury? " — " Eh? " replied the Captain. " How?
Gulf-Stream? Why, here; we're in the Gulf-Stream now! "
As we sailed on with canvas bravely spread,
My sober meditation mused the theme
By that brief catechism to my old
Sad mind revealed as in a warning dream, —
I know, and yet might shrink from being told:
Long have you voyaged on the Mexic stream,
But now are drifting to the Norway cold.