Should Auld Acquaintance . . . ? Poem by Cicely Fox Smith

Fancy you knowin' old Bill Barley - I haven't seen 'im since I don't know when;
Him an' me made a voyage or two together - nine years ago, was it, or ten?
Terrible argumentative sort of bloke Bill was; 'e'd quarrel with his own toenails;
If he was adrift in the Atlantic Ocean 'e'd raise a row with the sharks and whales.
Last time him and me met it was in this here bar;
We was havin' a pint and a yarn same as what you an' me are,
And Bill up and started something, I don't just remember how,
Anyway, before you could say knife we was having a first class row,
And they took and chucked us outside for to finish our chat,
And I shoved Bill through a plate-glass winder, and that was the end o' that . .
But taking Bill all round he wasn't a bad sort of chap,
Not a bad old scout, wasn't Bill, if he hadn't been so fond of a scrap,
So if you run across him anywhere you might say 'How do' for me and shake,
And tell him I'd like to see his ugly dial again, just for old time's sake . . .