Ralph McTell - The Ferryman lyrics

Oh, the traveller moving on the
Land, behold I give you
I give you the travelling man
And he's very heavy laden with
The questions in his burden
Lo, and I give you the travelling man
He has crossed the mountains
He has forded streams
He has spent a long time
Surviving on his dreams
Many times he's tried to lighten
Up his heavy load
But his compromises fail him and he
Ends back on the road

Oh the traveller he is weary
The travelling man he is tired
For the road is never ending in his fear
He has cried aloud for a saviour
And in vain for a teacher
Someone to lighten up the load
And he's heard the sounds of war
In a gentle shower of rain
And the whisperings of despair that
He could not explain
The reason for his journey
Or the reason it began
Or was there any reason
For the travelling man

At last he reached a river
So beautiful and wide
But the current was so strong he
Could not reach the other side
And the weary travelling man
Looked for a ferryman
Strong enough to row against the tide
And the ferryman was old but he
Moved the boat so well
Or did the river move the boat?
The traveller could not tell
Said the ferryman
"You're weary and the answers that you seek
Are in the singing river
Listen humbly it will speak"

Oh, the traveller closed his eyes and
He listened and he heard
Only the river murmuring and the
Beating of his heart
Then he heard the river laughing
And he heard the river crying
And in it was the beauty and
The sadness of the world
And he heard the sounds of dying
But he heard the sounds of birth
And slowly his ears heard all
The sounds of earth
The sounds blended together and
They became a whole
And the rhythm was his heartbeat
To the music his soul

And the river had no beginning
As it flowed into the sea
And the seas filled the clouds and
The rains filled the streams
And as slowly as the sunrise
He opened up his eyes
To find the ferryman had gone
The boat moved gently on the tide
And the river flowed within him
And with it he was one
And the seas moved around the earth
And the earth around the sun
And the traveller was the river
Was the boat and ferryman
Was the journey and the song
That the singing river sang