There is in Jeri­cho Brown​’s vast poet­ic mythol­o­gy, a series of touch­stone terms that are rich with res­o­nance. The word cross­ing refers, in part, to the grand cross­ing of the Atlantic in the ​“Mid­dle Pas­sage”, to the many rivers crossed by those flee­ing enslave­ment, and final­ly to the great cross­ing from this mor­tal ter­ri­to­ry to the oth­er unknown ter­ri­to­ry that we must all make. And in this poem, ​“Cross­ing”, he reminds us that above every­thing else, con­fi­dence, faith (“more than a con­queror”), courage and wreck­less opti­mism (“I am the one who leaps”) are good com­pan­ions on this journey.