Annotations

The clouds had given their all –

two days of rain and then a break

in which we walked,

the waterlogged earth

gulping for breath at our feet

as we skirted the lake, silent and apart,

until the swans came and stopped us

with a show of tipping in unison.

As if rolling weights down their bodies to their heads

they halved themselves in the dark water,

icebergs of white feather, paused before returning again

like boats righting in rough weather.

‘They mate for life’you said as they left,

porcelainover the stilling water. I didn’t reply

but as we moved on through the afternoon light,

slow-stepping in the lake’s shingle and sand,

I noticed our hands, that had, somehow,

swumthe distance between us

and folded, one over the other,

like a pair of wings settling after flight