One Poet’s Role

Someone has to stay there.
Someone has to go back,
To return to the near

Shore, to wait patiently
For the next traveler,
Next paying customer,

Who may have a large load
Of goods for the market,
May be one of a crowd

Of idiot pilgrims,
May be one soul, alone.
There has to be someone

Good at the back and forth,
With the right equipment,
The pole, the rope, the boat.