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?

MARGINALIA

Wistful. Thankful. A bit of heartache. But grateful. Oh, so grateful. Happy Christmas 🙂

ABOUT MARY OLIVER

Mary Oliver was born and raised in Maple Hills Heights, a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. Oliver’s poetry won numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award and a Lannan Literary Award for lifetime achievement. Her last books included   A Thousand Mornings   (2012),   Dog Songs   (2013),   Blue Horses   (2014),   Felicity   (2015),   Upstream: Selected Essays   (2016), and   Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver   (2017). Oliver lived in Provincetown, Massachusetts, and Hobe Sound, …  (more)

Mary Oliver was born and raised in Maple Hills Heights, a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. Oliver’s poetry won numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award and a Lannan Literary Award for lifetime achievement. Her last books included   A Thousand Mornings   (2012),   Dog Songs   (2013),   Blue Horses   (2014),   Felicity   (2015),   Upstream: Selected Essays   (2016), and   Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver   (2017). Oliver lived in Provincetown, Massachusetts, and Hobe Sound, Florida, until her death in early 2019. She was 83.  ( Source )

(less)

Read more poems by  Mary Oliver  • Find books by this poet on  Amazon  •  Bookshop  • Follow on  Instagram  •  Facebook  •  Website  •  Or view my library

ENDNOTES

Explore other works in pursuit of:  epiphany  •  transformation  •  beauty  •  Or browse the index

If this work resonates with you,   please consider supporting the archive  . Thank you for reading.

ON THIS DAY

On This Day

To Be Alive by Gregory Orr

2025

Passage by Victoria Chang

2023

Clam by Mary Oliver

2022

Happiness by Raymond Carver

2020

Prayer by Galway Kinnell

2017

The Hug by Tess Gallagher

2016

For The Moment by Pierre Reverdy

2014

I Ask Percy How I Should Live My Life by Mary Oliver

2012

The Swan by Mary Oliver

2011

Sunrise by Mary Oliver

2010