| |
| NOW two have met, now two have met, | |
| Who may not meet again— | |
| Two grains of sand, two blades of grass, | |
| Two threads within the skein— | |
| Beside the Great Grey Water. | 5 |
| |
| Two hands to touch, two hearts to touch; | |
| And, here forgathered, we | |
| Will not forget, may not forget, | |
| Where last forgathered three— | |
| Beyond the Great Grey Water. | 10 |
| |
| Two glasses filled, two pipes to fill— | |
| ‘To all our fortunes, brother!’ | |
| And as they clink—like so—we drink | |
| Fair passage to the other | |
| Across the Great Grey Water. | 15 |
| |
| For three have sailed, and one has sailed, | |
| His sins, like ours, still on him, | |
| God sleep his soul! five oceans roll | |
| Their long weight all upon him. | |
| O God! thy Great Grey Water! | 20 |
| |
| But I am still, and you are still, | |
| And here our chance has flung us; | |
| True comrades we, but…there were three | |
| And one is not among us | |
| Beside the Great Grey Water. | 25 |
| |
| A breathing space, a biding place, | |
| Soft lights and beakers beaded, | |
| Then out again and on again, | |
| Unminded and unheeded, | |
| Across the Great Grey Water. | 30 |
| |
| Now two have met where three have met | |
| With curses or with laughter; | |
| And so our Day shall pass away, | |
| And so our Night come after— | |
| But, ah! the Great Grey Water! | 35 |
| |
