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?

                                                                                  ~The Swan by Mary Oliver