Alex Harvey Paid the Ferryman (in 1982)

He paid his final dues, the journeyman,

waiting for the Zeebrugge ferry the day before

his forty-seventh birthday.

Looking at the grey North Sea regretfully

his life ebbed away,

but in the end he just decided

not to stay.

The escaped Loch Ness Monster winked

from beneath the waves

and magic Alex cackled,

making ready to depart,

a one-way ticket from the tell-tale heart.

'This is it, boys,' he said

to the coronary applause

and took the ferry to a different shore.