all that i am

The Swan   by Mary Oliver 

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?

perhaps this is too literal!?!

but this image has filled me with the essence of beauty...

since the moment I first saw it

it was taken in Spring of 2010

in Heidelberg, Germany

along the Neckar River

I was visiting our son and his wife who live there 

they had just had their first born son

our first grandchild

I was quite homesick while I was there

and found that walking along the river

eased that feeling 

one day I came upon this lonely swan

perhaps the very first swan I've ever seen in the wild

It warmed my heart tremendously

because it instantly brought to mind

the beautiful friend who so often rescues me

when I find myself in a dark place

or feeling lost and all alone

...like an ugly duckling...

and even from so far away

I felt

the comfort of her love 

and 'the beauty' that she gives from her beautiful life...