As drifting logs of wood may haply meet
On ocean's waters surging to and fro,
And having met, drift once again apart,
So, fleeting is the intercourse of men.
E'en as a traveler meeting with the shade
Of some o'erhung tree, awhile reposes,
Then leaves its shelter to pursue his ways,
So men meet friends, then part with them for ever.
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When shall we three meet again
In thunder, lightning, or in rain?
When shall we three meet again
In thunder, lightning, or in rain?
Two lives that once part, are as ships that divide
When, moment on moment, there rushes between
read more
Two lives that once part, are as ships that divide
When, moment on moment, there rushes between
The one and the other, a sea;--
Ah, never can fall from the days that have been
A gleam on the years that shall be!
We shall meet but we shall miss her.
We shall meet but we shall miss her.
As two floating planks meet and part on the sea,
O friend! so I met and then drifted from read more
As two floating planks meet and part on the sea,
O friend! so I met and then drifted from thee.
As vessels starting from ports thousands of miles apart pass
close to each other in the naked breadth of read more
As vessels starting from ports thousands of miles apart pass
close to each other in the naked breadth of the ocean, nay,
sometimes even touch in the dark.
Like driftwood spares which meet and pass
Upon the boundless ocean-plain,
So on the sea of life, read more
Like driftwood spares which meet and pass
Upon the boundless ocean-plain,
So on the sea of life, alas!
Man nears man, meets, and leaves again.
Like a plank of driftwood
Tossed on the watery main,
Another plank encountered,
Meets, read more
Like a plank of driftwood
Tossed on the watery main,
Another plank encountered,
Meets, touches, parts again;
So tossed, and drifting ever,
On life's unresting sea,
Men meet, and greet, and sever,
Parting eternally.
Ships that pass in the night, and speak each other in passing,
Only a signal shown and a distant read more
Ships that pass in the night, and speak each other in passing,
Only a signal shown and a distant voice in the darkness:
So on the ocean of life, we pass and speak one another,
Only a look and a voice, then darkness again and a silence.
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,
