The Man and the Swan

 

And then so suddenly

in the long

middle of his life

he saw on a pond

with no name

near his house

a lone swan

beating its wings against the

flat surface of the water

and he knew,

he knew that not once

did the swan

ever wish to fully go

below the surface

like the silver sleek

fish it must see

from its position.

 

And he thought of his wife

whose world was the children

and he thought of his job

in which there was no poetry

and he thought of his lover

who seemed perennially

under water

and he realized he was just

floating along.

 

And as he peered down

into the dark, nameless pond

and as he reached out

to touch it he heard

two sounds:

the agitated slap of the

swan's wings

breaking the

mirror of the water

and the voices

of his children

calling him from the woods.

And they both sounded to him

completely beautiful.