The Swan
Did you too see it, drifting, all night, on the black river?
Did you see it in the morning, rising into the silvery air -
An armful of white blossoms,
A perfect commotion of silk and linen as it leaned
into the bondage of its wings; a snowbank, a bank of lilies,
Biting the air with its black beak?
Did you hear it, fluting and whistling
A shrill dark music - like the rain pelting the trees - like a waterfall
Knifing down the black ledges?
And did you see it, finally, just under the clouds -
A white cross Streaming across the sky, its feet
Like black leaves, its wings Like the stretching light of the river?
And did you feel it, in your heart, how it pertained to everything?
And have you too finally figured out what beauty is for?
And have you changed your life?
--Mary Oliver
http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/m_r/oliver/online_poems.htm
For More Share the Joy Visit Meri’s Musings! You will be glad you did!
Some twenty years ago, I was in Montana at Red Rock Lake, sitting in a little rowboat at midnight with a young man I had just met. I was in my early thirties and more adventurous then. As I recall, he was sweet and very attractive. We decided to go for a late night boating expedition to see what we could see. There was a full moon out that night, hanging low in the evening sky, and suddenly we heard the sound of rushing wings and the koh-koh-koh sound of trumpeting as several bright, beautiful swans flew past the full golden moon. I have never seen anything so exquisite and joyful in my life; they were so free. I have always remembered it. This photo of a swan doing an “asana” reminded me of those amazing and beautiful birds and their flight across the moon over Red Rock Lake, as they serenaded a young woman and man who barely knew each other on a summer night in Montana. If you click on the “koh-koh-koh” you can hear the sound they made! Honest!
Peace and Joy,
Noelle Renee.
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