Dave Bonta's "Ocean view" is only four lines long, but it sets up a sharp contrast. The speaker says that painting the sea means seeing it as a "mad lover": wild, restless, impossible to settle. The sea is not the calm, domestic thing the second half describes, "the house where we / at last bid good night." That house suggests safety, routine and rest, the place where a day, or perhaps a relationship, finally winds down.
The poem seems to say that an artist is drawn to what is untamed rather than what is comfortable. The speaker doesn't claim to prefer one over the other, but the sea gets the passion, and the house gets only the quiet closing of a day. The word "mad" gives the sea a human, almost romantic energy.
The mood is hushed but charged. There is a hint of longing, as though the speaker knows that the wildness is more vivid on the canvas than the peace of the evening. The "at last" in the final line also carries a faint weariness, as if reaching good night has taken effort.