Игорь Желтышев MISTRESS OF THE CROSSING

The boat is creaking at the edge
The oars are dry as ancient bone
The night above the wave is dead
This is the place to cast your stone

He lay upon the freezing sand
More quiet than the early snow
I screamed into the waters hand
Do not take his remaining glow

Oh give him breath and give him dawn
Oh give him back his morning light
I ll give away my silent tongue
My name and all my world so bright

The black horizon shook with fear
The shadows gathered in a crowd
And out of water cold and drear
The old grim ferryman stepped out

Return him to me from the shade
I will become the stream myself
Upon your knees my head is laid
Just let him live and walk in health

Return him from the heavy night
Let his young heart beat fast again
I ll give you all without a fright
Just let him live among the men

The mistress of the old ferry
In coat of mist by dead waves side
No glory here no mercy plea
You pay with soul for someone s stride

Your cry has torn the frozen night
A bride of law no longer love
To bring his soul back to the light
And give charon your own above

The price is paid
The waters splash
The river took
Your steps to ash

Charon did not demand a coin
He silently looked in my eyes
He said no death for you to join
I need yourself without disguise

I do not take your living breath
Nor your short years nor blood so red
You will become the hand of death
Right where the final light is dead

You will count the breaths of men
And you will meet the coffins here
And you will hold the silence then
Upon the water dark and drear

And so i let my tresses fall
And threw my life into the haze
Let my beloved hear the call
While i am lost in river s maze

Let him forget the lonely track
To waters where my soul was torn
I walked to god to not come back
But as the river s wife was born

The mistress of the old ferry
In coat of mist by dead waves side
No glory here no mercy plea
You pay with soul for someone s stride

Your cry has torn the frozen night
A bride of law no longer love
To bring his soul back to the light
And give charon your own above

The price is paid
The waters splash
The river took
Your steps to ash

Now my own heart is like a dock
Now my own hands are made of ice
Who calls his love with sudden shock
My boat will catch him in a trice

I know the price of being apart
I know how heavy is the pain
When on the cold and frozen heart
Lies someone s love like heavy rain

Don t cry beside my ferry place
Don t argue with the silent deep
I also had a human face
I also had a life to keep

The mistress of the old ferry
Before the heavy gates of black
No dying maid no ghost to see
But one who waits her lover back

The mistress of the old ferry
You are the law of frozen tide
He breathes under the sky so free
While you conduct the dark outside

The price is paid
The waters splash
The river wed
Your soul to ash

He stayed alive
You became a theme
The eternal mistress
Of the stream

The boat is creaking at the edge
The oars are dry as ancient bone
Someone is standing on the ledge
Not knowing he is not alone