Charon's Duty [CHADU]

u"Who goes across those waters<br>On which the Moon ne'er shone,<br>With the passenger he came for<br>As in a dream moved on?<br>Cypress and yews o'ershadow<br>The verge on either side,<br>Within whose boughs for ever<br>The winds of woe abide.<br>And all the air is haunted<br>With a wail that seems to flow<br>From the living lips of Sorrow<br>As the ages come and go.<br>The boatman, dumb and hoary,<br>Pulls with a steady pull,<br>And the dead man seems to listen<br>To voices beautiful.<br>And it may be the weird River<br>Has sights we cannot see,<br>And the far shore burns its signals<br>Of eerie mystery.<br>And Charon knows each signal \u2014<br>Above the River's rim<br>The spectral lights that glimmer<br>Are pilot-stars for him.<br>Ay me! he knows the water<br>As few, few boatmen know;<br>'Tis not the first he's taking<br>Down where we all must go!"