Tristan, on his blog the emotional blackmailers handbook, recently posted the above painting by Winslow Homer, Summer Night, which I was happy to be reminded of. There's something mysterious and wonderful about the image — two girls dancing together, by the sea, in the light of the moon. It's not quite erotic, but there are tidal forces at work here which might easily lure a lost mariner to his doom, if he didn't have all his wits about him, crossing the bar.
Check out Tristan's site, which usually contains photographs of lovely, gracious things in and around London. It's like a visit to a fine old pub, where you can knock back a pint of Guinness in a corner by yourself and mull over visions like the one above . . . at a safe distance. In that corner, starting on your second pint, you might call to mind, if you've been wise enough to memorize it, this poem by Tennyson:
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.
Softly and clearly, while the seawind blew in on them, Anne repeated the beautiful lines of Tennyson's wonderful swan song– “Crossing the Bar.” The old captain kept time gently with his sinewy hand.
“Yes, yes, Mistress Blythe,” he said, when she had finished, “that's it, that's it. He wasn't a sailor, you tell me–I dunno how he could have put an old sailor's feelings into words like that, if he wasn't one. He didn't want any 'sadness o' farewells' and neither do I, Mistress Blythe–for all will be well with me and mine beyant the bar.”
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Anne's_House_of_Dreams/Chapter_35
(That's where I'll always remember that poem from.)
it is a very lovely poem … and i gasped with surprise and delight on discovering your link … many thanx
Thanks for the many fine images on your site.
Lovely. Tennyson requested that the poem be printed at the end of all collections of his works.