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.

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.

In life there are meetings which seem
Like a fate.

In life there are meetings which seem
Like a fate.

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,

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.

When shall we three meet again
In thunder, lightning, or in rain?

When shall we three meet again
In thunder, lightning, or in rain?

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.

The joy of meeting not unmixed with pain.

The joy of meeting not unmixed with pain.

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.