The Ferryman

The Ferryman^[1]

 

-P-

 

And the ferryman sings

In the swagger of the sun

And he shouts, and he sings

 

Till the loading is done

 

And he stands like a steeple,

And he watches people board;

Then, he shouts to his bosun,

And he sings to the Lord

 

And he shouts

To the old men,

Fishing on the pier

 

And he sings

With the seagulls

Of the broad Cape Fear

 

And he shouts to the cold waves,

Slapping on the prow;

 

And he sings every blessing

That the rules allow.

---

[1] The poet said that the ferryman is an amalgam of several individuals, but that he is mostly based on an older guy who worked on the ferry that went up the Cape Fear River from Southport to the aquarium in Fort Fisher. Paris compared him to a “priest, blessing things,” one who “seemed to have no function on the ferry other than that.”