Submission to Nehalennia’s Agon

To Nehalennia
by P.S.V.L.

Lady of the islands and low-lying lands,
Mistress of the tides and the flowing waves,
Mother of the Morini and the maritime peoples,
Domina of lapdogs and hounds of every sort,
She Who is the hand upon the rudder,
The line suspending every anchor,
The glint of the guiding star along the shore:

Nehalennia, Great Goddess,
when the inundation comes
and drowns the low places
and the souls are overfull of doubt
and are submerged in sadness
may You lead them out, and across,
and on the secret trackways of the deep;

For Yours are the paths under the waves
and Yours the unknown roads upon tides,
Yours the baying of hounds in searching
and Yours the barks of greeting from dogs
who are Your children, and who welcome Your children
when they come to You at last when life runs dry
and it is Your fresh air You give them in death.