Crossing the Bar

Back down today with my son today swimming in the Forty Foot. Starting to get a bit colder but there is something spiritual about the sea at this time of year. Met a person today who along with other people are using swimming in the sea to help with mental health problems that they have. He said that it has been a great help to him.

Every time I am finished swimming and am getting out, holding onto the bar reminds me for some reason of  Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem which was read when my father-in-law's ashes were put into the sea. 

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 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.