the ferryman

A Poem by An Li Leung

we all dream of the ferryman

he carries all across the sea
the tall, the short, the strong, the weak
he brings them safely to the shore
e’en those he much abhors

he’s fought a hundred thousand battles
and seen a hundred thousand more
he’s lived through a dozen bloody scuffles
and borne witness to death and gore

he helms his ferry
the tiny thing
that brings the weary
to their king

he wears a thinned, tired smile
hiding hard his sullen grief
for through a thousand nautical miles
he’s never seen faces of relief

he often wonders, as his ship sails fast
if he’s the face they’ll all see last
he’ll wonder deeper and mull some more,
but the answer he seeks rests far from shore