Analysis Of The Poem Water Billy Collins

I chose this poem because I like how it opens with a quiet still scene with a couple looking out at the moonlit water listening to the waves, you get the impression that it could be a love poem or something of that nature. Then the poems tone changes a lot. The speaker suddenly isn't describing the water as tranquil and relaxing, he describes it like it has a inevitable steady force. To him the water is symbolic of how the worlds lost faith/religion, and he hopes him and his lover can hold onto those things. After the first stanza the poem has a desperate, sad, desolate feeling. The poem ends on a desperate heartbreaking note with the couple clinging to their love in a world of violence and fear and pain, the poem comes a long way from the
calm moonlit night that it started out with. Altogether I think this is a beautifully written poem.