Did you too see it, drifting, all night, on the black river? <br />Did you see it in the morning, rising into the silvery air - <br />An armful of white blossoms, <br />A perfect commotion of silk and linen as it leaned <br />into the bondage of its wings; a snowbank, a bank of lilies, <br />Biting the air with its black beak? <br />Did you hear it, fluting and whistling <br />A shrill dark music - like the rain pelting the trees - like a waterfall <br />Knifing down the black ledges? <br />And did you see it, finally, just under the clouds - <br />A white cross Streaming across the sky, its feet <br />Like black leaves, its wings Like the stretching light of the river? <br />And did you feel it, in your heart, how it pertained to everything? <br />And have you too finally figured out what beauty is for? <br />And have you changed your life?<br /><br />Mary Oliver<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-swan/
