Poseidon Psychopompos

King Poseidon, the endless seas and all beneath are your domain.
Nurturing one, the cycle of life is in your hands
with which you hold the Earth you protect.
Watcher from the depths, keeper of the tides,
you bear the secrets of the dark places.

I sing to you, Poseidon Psychyopompos,
who takes the sailors from the homes
and the drowned, the lost, the castaways,
the pirated, the evidence of mortal misdeeds
and all who breathe the waters of life.

From your realms are born all that swim,
and those that swim give life to those that walk.
So too are fish offered to please you, for in death
those that swim and are offered
sustain you as surely as the fatted calf.

Upon the tides over which you rule
are cast what remains of our honored dead.
Receive them in death as your sustained them in life.
Strip them flesh from bone so that they are ready
to be borne by you to your brother’s realm.

By shell will you know the ones
that take the perilous journey of burial at sea.
Comport them with honor, remember their service,
open the way for your devotees.
May this never be the only hymn I offer you.