Did You Hear It?

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