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| Unidentified tanker in St. George’s Channel in the Irish Sea, August 2013 |
Psalm 106 (107): 23–24
These men see the works of the LordAnd his wonders in the deep;Little else they see who keepWatch and faith with brothers’ accord.Neither wealth nor fame they reap,But they have a different reward:These men see the works of the LordAnd his wonders in the deep.They see more than log-books record:What it is to watch slow, steepHeaps of water leaping aboard;They see tumble-tumult and broadDazzling seas and comets’ sweep;These men see the works of the LordAnd his wonders in the deep.
Today is Sea Sunday, an annual ecumenical day of prayer for seafarers, whose hard lives are often out of sight and out of mind, but on whom we depend for trade and prosperity. The Catholic charity for seafarers is Stella Maris, the ‘Apostleship of the Sea’, which was founded in Glasgow in 1920.
Marvellous! Perfect, or almost perfect. (If I'm being pernickety, the scansion in "what it is to watch slow, steep" might be tightened.) I especially love "dazzling seas and comets' sweep", and of course the kenning in "tumble-tumult". But all of it is bewitching.
ReplyDeleteI assume this is your own work, I can't find it anywhere else on the 'net.
Thank you very much — I'm very glad you liked it. Yes, I was deliberately trying to slow the pace in that line, in order to try and capture the moment just before the breaking of one of those enormous ocean waves, when they, and time, seem to stand still (then the wave breaks at the line break, and 'Heaps of water' come 'sweeping aboard'). Was possibly trying to be too clever!
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