Shoes, Ships, and Sealing Wax

Stupid swan

There is a lake in my neighborhood; I drive past it nearly every day, and when the weather warms up I often take pictures there. I've posted many of them here.

The lake is full of Canada geese, which I love. (I know, they are an invasive non-native species. So are people.)

We also had a swan. I never heard where it came from, but it was big and mean and I loved it, too. When I went to feed the geese (which you aren't supposed to do, I know) the swan bullied its way in.

It was pretty, though. And I looked for it every time I went by the lake.

It had character, stupid swan. It...I used to think of it as a female, because swans just seem to be she, but apparently no one is positive of the gender...would just walk right up to you. No fear.

I'd worry if I didn't see it for a few days in a row. All the geese look alike, but the single swan stood out. I didn't like seeing it up by the road; I'd even yell at it: Go back down to the lake! You're going to get hit! Stupid swan! That was something I did not want to see.

I didn't see it, I just read about it in the paper.

I wasn't the only one in love with the swan, apparently. Someone even had the body cremated and they'll be planting the ashes with a tree by the lake...something that will bloom white, as a memorial.

There's a certain ambivalence...should I care so much about a bird when, up the road, four young kids are dead?...just to give one example. But grief doesn't have to be finite. I remind myself of that quite often.

Stupid swan.

Posted by Nic at March 30, 2007 04:10 PM | TrackBack