What various hindrances we meet
Before we cross the Bar!
The path is choked with weeds, the weeds
Most fascinating are.
We linger in the undergrowth,
We loiter ’midst the sedges;
Full many a country lane conceals
Poison in its hedges.
We pick up this, we pick up that,
When given tit, we offer tat,
Till suddenly we find we’re at
The dark and dismal Ferry.
Though to step forward we are loth
The past we have to bury.
Reluctant as we are
We have to cross the Bar.