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.
Sung by Susan Diamond
Date of Song’s Composition: c. 1985
Commentary: “Crossing the Bar” is an 1889 poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. The narrator uses an extended metaphor to compare death with crossing the “sandbar” between the river of life, with its outgoing “flood,” and the ocean that lies beyond death, the “boundless deep,” to which we return. It is one of Tennyson’s most famous and admired poems.