The Ferryman


	Spirits wail
	   vacating their familiar bodies
	   and summon me again to the Stygian shores
	The River howls its black welcome
	as I ply its course once more

	The hated mists part
	Two ghosts shimmer and wait
	Copper penny forgotten
	   I grant them passage
	   so they are not condemned
	   to the century's lament
	
	A ragged growl strips reverie away in lurches
	as the current's claws drag my skiff through torrents
	   Faces leer from haunted waves
	   The damned moan as we sidle shoreward
	   Their din rises
	   a dirge announcing arrival
	Wan witches' moons stalk the dark
	chasing shadows from cimmerean ruins
	   their toppled towers like rotten teeth
	   silhouetted against the glow
	Hades festers before my eyes

	I stare into Styx
	drawn back to its embrace
	It stares back
	   a myriad of faces
	   each distortions
	   of my own