I sailed up a river with a pleasant wind

by Henry David Thoreau

I sailed up a river with a pleasant wind,
New lands new people and new thoughts to find;
Many fair reaches and headlands appeared,
And many dangers were there to be feared;
But when I remember where I have been,
And the fair landscapes that I have seen,
Thou seemest the only permanent shore,
The cape never rounded, nor wandered o'er.