Ferryman

A harsh window hammered and bent down the trees
till they moaned and they wailed in the dark
A wind cold and better, as wise or as death,
as crewel as the jaws of the shark
So high ran the river, so heavy and wild,
the waves were as strong as the sea
A fool could have told it was no night to be
out earning a ferryman's fee

Chorus
Ferryman, ferryman, won't you be kind-
My mother and father are waiting for me
Ferryman, ferryman, take me across-
Though I haven't the price of your fee.

She stood there alone on the cold heaving dock
She was pale and she trembled with fear
Her hands were clenched white as the moon on her breast
As she waited his answer to hear
"Although it's no night to be crossing" he said
For their sake, I'll take you aboard
They must be near dying with worry for you,
And one fare I'll easily afford"

Chorus

They ferry fought hard, it bucked, yawed and rolled
with the waves surging over the bow
Grimmly the old pilot clung to the tiller
And steered the craft over somehow
The windlashed young maiden stood near to the rail
Her eyes fixed upon the far side
She seemed not to notice the wind or the waves
that threatened to finish her ride

Chorus

By fate or by whim of old blind lady-luck
He brought them in safely to shore
The young girl turned round and she took off her shawl
saying, "I haven't anything more-
But I'll bring you your money, tomorrow, I swear"
"Tomorrow at first morning light"
"Until then keep this as a trust of my pledge"
And she disappeared into the night

Chorus

"I hear that the ghost has been walking again"
the passenger said with a yawn
"Oh, yessir it has" said the pilot who took
the old ferry's tiller at dawn
The annual storm that sank this ferry's twin
came down just the same time last year
And now any night that a high wind comes up
That spirit is like to appear"

Chorus

"A ghost on the ferry?" his second fare asked
a young girl who paled with fright
"Oh yes, miss and that's why we can't hire a pilot
who'll dare take the ferry at night
Elevin poor souls there were lost on that night
And it seems that there's one who can't rest
Some duty of conciounce still binds him to work
Some promised or sin unconfessed"

Chorus

"They're burried up there on the river's far shore
You can see all the graves plain from here
The pilot's the last one-" he cut off his words
As the young maiden cried out in fear
They stared where she pointed, her pale trembling hand
And there on the shore they could see
Her shawl lay folded on the old pilot's grave
Her pledge for the ferryman's fee

Chorus