The Swan Ballerina
Gliding a sway of silence across the lake
O'er reflections of white clouds your wake
The water ripples in silverish blue
Obeying your body's rhythmic truth
We are a rock immovable and still
Black and cragged with age and ill
Floating in a temple garden's care
Ringed by colored paper prayers
You are a swan plunging your neck
Into murky water's depth
Where in a tangled wreath of weeds
Our deepest store your pleasure feeds
Your swelling ribs push to the quest
Upon your head a sparkling diamond crest
Our pouting eyes near bursting from their cage
To see you wistfully shine upon the stage
Your neck stretches gently to the sky
Rain clouds gather in our eyes
Your modest rapture tugs our shrouds
As we sit brooding in the clouds
Your beauty gives us grace to gaze
Upon the lake your body's praise
Your throat a serpent white and pure
Twists in rueful swirling gyre
Spreading wings of milky skin
Moonbeams bend to light within
White night streams across your face
Hope glows in your artful grace
We often soak in anguished drear
Until your white angel swims near
Then freed from dark and muddy snares
We await the sound of wings in air
Sudden beating whooping flight
Soaring through the blackening night
Majestic marvels rule the pond
Ecstatic ballerina swans
In on this black rock you land
Your languid neck we'll caress by fans
And rest upon your soft swan's down
A pillow for our rugged frowns
There on the stillness of deaf rock
Through your pulsating plummed frock
May opalescent zephyrs blow
On ballet's azure lake you flow
Richard Field
March 2004
