Shipmates (1914) Poem by Cicely Fox Smith

Good-bye and fare ye well; for we'll sail no more together,
Broad seas and narrow in fair or foul weather:
We'll sail no more together in foul weather or fine,
And ye'll go your own way, and I'll go mine.

O the seas are very wide, and there's never any knowing
The countries we'll see or the ports where we'll be going,
All across the wide world, up and down the sea,
Before we come together, as at last may be.

Good-bye and fare ye well - and maybe I'll be strolling
And watching the ships there and the crews a-coaling,
In a queer foreign city and a gay gaudy street;
And who but yourself will I chance for to meet?

You'll blow up from Eastward, and I'll blow in from the West,
And of all the times we ever had, it's then we'll have the best,
Back from deep sea wanderings, back from wind and weather,
You and me from all the seas, two friends together!

Good-bye and fare ye well: may naught but good attend ye
All across the wide world where sailor's luck may send ye,
Up and down the deep seas, north and south the Line,
And ye'll go your own way, and I'll go mine!