"So-Long."

New Zealand Illustrated Magazine, Volume VII, Issue 2, 1 November 1902, Page 94

"So- Long."

Thet have swung her out in the bay, old man, And over tho waters clear I can hear her grumbling engines plan 'Iheir speed, and a course to steer — Her mast-head light is a low-swung star In the star-world's jewelled throng . . . And you'll be out o'er the rolling -bar To-morrow. Old chum, so-long ! We dreamed of going together, old mate (I am dreaming those old dreams now) But some must go and the others wait, And there's madness in Why aud How. But when through slumbering seas you cruise — When tbe moon-gemmed spray-drops fly — Through the ramping roar of your tearing screws, You'll think of your mate Good-bye! You will follow new roads to the north, old friend — You will lift new stars to guide— You will face Life's seas where the World-storms rend. And — I'll drift on the slack half-tide. You are going — going! — It seems so far — To the lilt of a giant's song — And I'm this side of a sheltering bar, Because— well, because So-long! Quilp N.