Alas, by what rude fate
Our lives, like ships at sea, an instant meet,
Then part forever read more

Alas, by what rude fate
Our lives, like ships at sea, an instant meet,
Then part forever on their courses fleet.

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,

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!

In life there are meetings which seem
Like a fate.

In life there are meetings which seem
Like a fate.

And soon, too soon, we part with pain,
To sail o'er silent seas again.

And soon, too soon, we part with pain,
To sail o'er silent seas again.

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 drifting logs of wood may haply meet
On ocean's waters surging to and fro,
And having read more

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.

We twain have met like the ships upon the sea,
Who behold an hour's converse, so short, so sweet:
read more

We twain have met like the ships upon the sea,
Who behold an hour's converse, so short, so sweet:
One little hour! and then, away they speed
On lonely paths, through mist, and cloud, and foam,
To meet no more.

We shall meet but we shall miss her.

We shall meet but we shall miss her.