it is only a short journey across the water,
where there are great rewards and
riches awaiting the boatmen,
who know that when they reach the foreign shore
they will be paid handsomely for their load
the passengers, the ferryman's human cargo
are deposited in an unwelcoming place, where
regardless of age, they endure a steep climb and are
corralled like animals, before stumbling inland
to search for sanctuary, food and water
in the town, the visitors find
that the inhabitants have melted away in the rain
and instead they are mocked
by the unseeing eyes of barred shop windows
starving and disillusioned, they retrace their steps
and on their way, they find
that they are again faced
with the unsafest crossing of all
Donald Keyman
