Don't Pay the Ferryman
by sweetlittlevampire at deviantart.com
As I crossed the vast desert,
I heard them, singing,
as they paddled under the order of
the ferryman of souls.
They appeared around the bend,
voices still ringing,
oars lifting and dipping,
with the wave-tops' pitch and roll.
I stood on shore, and ready to step in.
They looked at me, oars paused.
The ferryman shook his head.
"You've yet to pay in full your karmic debt.
Not this time.
It is not your time just yet."
Singing still, they vanished round a bend,
their voices sweet as ever song could be,
and wistfulness lay within my heart, not dread,
at how close a thing had almost come to be.
for Brendan's wonderful prompt at Real Toads : Islands. But you must go read it all, it is very wonderful. This is based on something that happened to someone I knew, during a near death experience.
