THE FERRYMAN’s PIPE
The Ferryman’s Pipe
They may call me a Masochist.
But who brings you treasures like this?
From the bottom of the river floor
from the South Bank of London,
Amidst the big pile of rubble
of rocks and used condoms
He walked and crushed them
Saying “you can find lots of stuff
like clay pipes,” and in an instant —
handed me one.
This one.
They may call me a Masochist.
But who brings you treasures like this?
I SAY it’s from the river bed
But I pretend he plucked it from his pocket
so that I would have something of him
to hold, to rub, like a worry rock
whenever I am sad and feel forgotten.
Like the pipes of times so far away
So, too, will this chapter dissipate.
But no matter if I cry my own river of tears
look at how much treasure has appeared!
They may call me a Masochist.
But who brings you treasures like this?
Some women bury their treasures deep
in the freezer: embryonic miscarriages
of a time, passed, forever.
How odd is this lady
To keep her dead baby
in an ice-box like I keep my stained nighty?
Do you wince as I admit this
Or will you go out and buy me a new dress
And leave stories and things behind
on my island?
They call me a Masochist.
For musing on a sadist
who can treat people poorly
and explode, vitriolic.
Someone who’ll justify the anger
by finger-pointing blame at you
making you responsible, entirely
for your own death sentence.
But surely there have been battles greater
than this, with sailors sailing high seas
encountering pirates and misfits.
Would you have called the men
of trade, explorers or gits
corrupt, insane or masochists?
Ah my love, you forget upon my arm
like a sailor tattooed, is written the poem:
‘I am not afraid of storms
for I am learning how to sail my ship’
and often times it has indeed been wild
but for that I am an Adventurer,
not a masochist
or vile.
For I’ve got stories about how one man’s pipes
sang songs like sexy sirens, seducing me right
Because I listen, am I masochist
or just sailing through the night?
Here, let me tell you about the Ferryman’s Pipe…
© Sylvie Hill 2014
