Crossing the Bar

Alfred, Lord Tennyson, was first and foremost, a poet. It was not an avocation for him. It was his primary vocation. It was calling. He was certain of it. Even if old age, when granted a peerage which gained him admission to the House of Lords in England, he said that he accepted on behalf of literature.

If he had written nothing else, this work would have made the journey worthwhile for all of us.

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 tho' 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 crost the bar.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Reading at Poetry Foundation

Biography of Tennyson