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Ban and Arriere Ban

by Andrew Lang

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Boat-Song

Adrift, with starlit skies above,
   With starlit seas below,
We move with all the suns that move,
   With all the seas that flow:
For, bond or free, earth, sky, and sea,
   Wheel with one central will,
And thy heart drifteth on to me,
   And only Time stands still.

Between two shores of death we drift,
   Behind are things forgot,
Before, the tide is racing swift
   To shores man knoweth not.
Above, the sky is far and cold,
   Below, the moaning sea
Sweeps o’er the loves that were of old,
   But thou, Love, love thou me.

Ah, lonely are the ocean ways,
   And dangerous the deep,
And frail the fairy barque that strays
   Above the seas asleep.
Ah, toil no more with helm or oar,
   We drift, or bond or free,
On yon far shore the breakers roar,
   But thou, Love, love thou me!

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