24/01/2026
As we prepare to celebrate Burns Night on 25th January, commemorating Scotland's national poet, we are not alone in being moved by his words. Beethoven even set one of his poems with a seafaring theme to music - 'Musing on the Roaring Ocean'.
It expresses the wishes of a seafarer's loved one, and is as relevant today as when it was written over 200 years ago:
Musing on the roaring ocean,
Which divides my love and me;
Wearying heav'n in warm devotion,
For his weal where'er he be.
Hope and Fear's alternate billow
Yielding late to Nature's law,
Whispering spirits round my pillow,
Talk of him that's far awa.
Ye whom sorrow never wounded,
Ye who never shed a tear,
Care-untroubled, joy-surrounded,
Gaudy day to you is dear.
Gentle night, do thou befriend me,
Downy sleep, the curtain draw;
Spirits kind, again attend me,
Talk of him that's far awa!
- Robert Burns, 1788
So we shall raise a 'Burns Night' toast to all Seafarers and their loved ones across the world...
.. and you can hear soprano Lynne Dawson sing Beethoven's arrangement of the poet's words here: https://youtu.be/mrUg-F03108
