THE WILD SWANS

 

THE WILD SWANS 

After Hans Christian Andersen

Each gold foil leaf in summer she looked through

Or the pale green iconographies of April

This was a pinprick universe

Through which they saw the stars

Elise and her brothers

Even Heaven itself

Banished by a wicked stepmother

From the feasts of roasted apples at the castle

The succulent hams; the vintages of snow melt

They drank from their cold hands

In dreams when they were together again

After the swans sojourn

And life became a pilgrimage 

And she wove the swan mail well an armour of Very Light

Stinging her hands with the requisite nettles

Mute in shadow and in sun.

How long Elise had labored

None could tell

For she was bound to silence

As to a husband vowed

And kept her extremity to herself

Till a day of thundering winds and wings bespoke

Her fidelity outloud

Both Spring and Summer blossoming

In the same instant

And the spell broken into pieces.

her brothers delivered.

the bells of Christendom clanging over the schoolroom

maps in pink and green of the known, and 

the sweet 

now repatriated worlds.

mary angela douglas 3 june 2024