Crossing the Bar

Foremost among the poems that helped me form my inner self has to be "Crossing the Bar" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Not only is it his final say (he requests that this poem be included as the last poem in any collection of his work), it also sums up my inner belief in just wanting to see the Pilot. I actually said this poem over his gravestone at Westminster Abbey in London.



CROSSING THE BAR

Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea,

But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.

Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;

For though from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crossed the bar.
--Alfred, Lord Tennyson