Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SHIPMATE SORROW, by CICELY FOX SMITH


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SHIPMATE SORROW, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I was shipmates with sorrow in a day gone by
Last Line: And it's old sorrow singing out of times gone by!
Subject(s): Grief; Sorrow; Sadness


I WAS shipmates with Sorrow in a day gone by:
We shared 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 old 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!





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