Poems and Translations from the Ancient Celtic Bards

TO THE SEA.

He meets thy mighty murdering billow: a large, swelling ocean wave
With only this to smooth his pillow— A poetic way of saying that the sailor's only comfort in death is the end of his earthly suffering.
That all his griefs are past !

If there is aught: anything at all in Nature’s plan
That might awake regret in man,
It is, O witching: enchanting or deceptive, wanton: reckless, unrestrained, or heartless deep !
To gaze on thy mysterious sleep,
When thou, beneath a summer sky,
Subdued to very love, dost lie,
And know, that influence to impair: to weaken, damage, or spoil
Man’s little joy, existed there ! The poet expresses a sense of betrayal, realizing that even when the sea looks beautiful and calm, the potential for lethal violence is always present beneath the surface.