The Ferryman

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The Wondrous Dream

~

my mind’s eye sees the ferryman’s dory
soon I will be fast aboard

sailing on his skiff of dreams
the ferryman standing watch

soaring skyward untethered
‘mong the clouds of wonder

to magical mystical ports of call
where all imagined is in my grasp

if only I could stay the course…
but fast – daybreak approaches
and this dreamer will awaken

but caught still am I
in the final dream
conjured forth by the ferryman

spirit stirs to the distant voice
readies for the firmamental journey

one foot still in this mortal realm
soul resigned to embarkation

time folding in upon time
as slow you approach
the celestial light

~ ~ ~

rob kistner © 2019

  • Click below to read more wonderful Sunday Muse poems:
    Sunday Muse 53

  • This poem is about the “limbo” of waiting. For other poems on dVerse about limbo, click below:

    Poetics: Limbo

     

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    Hi! I’m Edgrrr, rob’s shih tzu.

  • 38 thoughts on “The Ferryman”

    1. “Soaring skyward tethered”….a wondrous dream indeed. The soul’s final journey captured. I love this Rob! Such beautiful imagery in this, and it reflects the picture wonderfully! Thank you so much for joining us over at the Sunday Muse! 🙂

      1. Thank you for your kind words Carrie. I will be participating in the Sunday Muse regularly now that I have found you. I love love love writing to visual prompts. I am highly visual, enjoying to write poetry of place, setting, and atmosphere – as well as being a mixed-media artist for 48 years now.

    2. “Magical mystical ports of call” … (The lure of names and places, stirring thoughts of foreign places. Ports and palaces and steamers. Names are ships to carry dreamers.) This is a gorgeous write, Rob. It reminded me so much of the poems of Don Blanding (quoted above in parentheses).

      1. I have always been a procrastinator Dwight… 🙂 My dad always said, “All’s well that ends in the well”. Silly, but it made me smile when I was a lad.

    3. Thank goodness you still have one foot in this mortal realm. I can see you soaring in your dreams. There is a soft blanket of poignant regret at leaving, even in dreams…

    4. When I was a child, the travelling to a holiday destination was almost the best part, like the anticipation of Christmas. I hope where you end after your ferry trip is somewhere without angels and harps 🙂

    5. You have to pay the ferryman,
      or forever linger in the sickly reek
      from the meadows of asphodel

      at least that is what I have been told… which I thought was similar to limbo.

      1. This is an ecstatic vision I have had several times Björn, a lucid dream that has occurred in those moments between sleeping and waking. The skiff envisioned is a ship of the skies, the destination in my vision is vague, snd the ferryman is a benevolent helper to guide the skycraft at my behest… where we were heading is a place beyond the stars, possibly another dimension, another planet… the celestial light appeares more as a doorway through the mortal veil to what seems to be immortality, of some form or another…?? I have awakened each time before I have reached the destination. It is this unfinished essence of the vision that brings me to see it as a limbo-like state.

    6. “one foot still in this mortal realm
      soul resigned to embarkation”

      God’s waiting room but meanwhile the dreamer has such fantastical escapades “sailing on his skiff of dreams” – excellent line

    7. “spirit stirs to the distant voice
      readies for the firmamental journey

      one foot still in this mortal realm
      soul resigned to embarkation”

      Such a dreamy, wandering poem. Love it, Rob!

    8. I like the way you describe the final journey, Rob, as an adventure to ‘magical mystical ports of call’ on a dory. a fishing boat and not the traditional ferry.

      1. I felt the dory was far more personal Kim, more intimate, more nimble, and more easily navigated to a variety of ports. Also, the relationship with the ferryman was one-on-one. Besides, this was a magical, sky-flying dory.

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