I was shipmates with Sorrow in a day gone by;
We shared the wheel and look-out, old Sorrow and I:
Good times and bad times, foul weather and fair,
The old grey face of him was always there.
There was never shanty raised there, never song I heard,
But his voice would be in it like a crying bird;
I was dull in the dog watches when the laugh went free
Because of old Sorrow sitting down by me.
I thought I could lose him in the stir and change
Of bright wicked cities all sunlit and strange;
There came a hand at my elbow and a voice in my ear —
It was patient Sorrow saying: “Lad, I’m here!”
And by the bustling harbour, up the busy street,
Many a time I see him, many a time I meet
The old grey face there of one I used to know . . .
And it’s old shipmate Sorrow out of long ago.
And the watch at the halliards, they may sing with a will,
But the voice I used to hear, oh I think I hear it still,
Like the wind in a shroud piping, or a seabird’s cry . . .
And it’s old Sorrow singing out of times gone by!
(Cicely Fox Smith)
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Based on Topics: Time Poems, Fairness Poems, Cry Poems, Birds Poems, Laughter Poems, Dogs PoemsBased on Keywords: shipmates, look-out, shipmate, seabird, halliards