"Absent Friends and You, Mary" (circa 1840s?)
by Mipshipman (the late Commodore) 
W[illia]m. F. Spicer, U. S. N.

[Source: pp. 86-87 from "Naval Songs" (1902; 1918]

1. I’ve wander’d many a league, Mary,
Since last with you I met,
And many more about the world,
’Tis willed I wander yet;
But though I’m borne from clime to clime,
Where all seems strange and new,
Remembrance brings each happier time,
With absent friends and you, Mary,
With absent friends and you.

2. Tho’ brief the time that haply made 
Acquainted you and I, 
Within my breast are gently laid 
Tho’ts which will never die; 
They mingle with the brightest dream, 
That e’er my mem'ry knew, 
And fancy brings again the scene, 
Of absent friends and you, Mary,  
Of absent friends and you.

3. Tho’ change of scene in foreign land 
Seems pleasant for a while, 
The pressure of the stanger’s hand, 
And welcome may beguile; 
Yet give me back my kindred home, 
With all that’s prized and true, 
And I no more would wish to roam 
From absent friends and you, Mary, 
From absent friends and you.

4. Another year has yet its way 
Of cheerlessness to flee, 
Ere homeward bound my bark shall stray 
In gladness o’er the sea; 
Yet while ’neath stranger skies I cruise, 
And joys be e’er so few, 
A solace still ’twill be to muse 
On absent friends and you, Mary, 
On absent friends and you.

5. And now, my gentle friend, good-bye, 
Calm blessings light your way, 
Life’s moments pass without a sigh, 
Hope never knows decay; 
And sometimes, while in joyessness, 
The past flits by our view, 
Remember one who often thinks 
Of absent friends and you, Mary, 
Of absent friends and you.