Boats Sail On The Rivers / The Rainbow by Christina Rossetti

Christina Georgina Rossetti (5 December 1830 – 29 December 1894) was an English poet who wrote a variety of romantic, devotional, and children's poems. The poem ‘Boats Sail On The Rivers’ also known as 'The Rainbow' is from her collection Sing-Song: A Nursery Rhyme Book.


Boats Sail On The Rivers (The Rainbow) by Christina Rossetti

Boats sail on the rivers,
And ships sail on the seas;
But clouds that sail across the sky
Are prettier far than these.

There are bridges on the rivers,
As pretty as you please;
But the bow that bridges heaven,
And overtops the trees,
And builds a road from earth to sky,
Is prettier far than these.

From Sing-Song: A Nursery Rhyme Book (1893)


The images of boats in the video are inspired by the iconic Bauhaus building block sets for children "Bauspiel" designed at the Bauhaus school of design by Alma Siedhoff-Buscher in 1923

You can download a free printable poem from the Pure Star Kids Teachers Pay Teachers page here