Shall I go of my own choice upon the sea?

A poem by the bishop-king of Cashel, Corma mac Cuilennain, who died in 908, as he contemplates a journey of penance on the sea:

Shall I go, O king of the Mysteries, after my fill of cushions and music, to turn
my face on the shore and my back on my native land?
Shall I cut my hand with every sort of wound on the breast of the wave
which wrecks boats?
Shall I leave the track of my tow knees on the strand by the shore?
Shall I take my little black curragh over the broad-breasted, glorious ocean?
O king of the bright kingdom, shall I go of my own choice upon the sea?
Whether I be strong or poor, or mettlesome so as to be recounted
in tales, O Christ, will you help me when it comes to going upon the wild sea?

- from Thomas Ownen Clancy,
n "Subversion at Sea: Structure, Style and Intent in the Immrama"