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The Tundra Swan

Its full and light and interfolding feathers
__Number ten thousand plus,
No wonder that the tundra swan out-weathers
__With less than little fuss
__The brisk Antarctic breeze,
Yet half of them are quite superfluous.
__Dear swan, I ask you please
__To lend some excess down
To I whose swollen heart is ill-at-ease,
__Whose burden weighs me down;
__For with the feathers of
_Your back or breast, your neck or crown,
__I’d fly so far above
The clouds and there exclaim “I love, I love.”

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Daniel Joseph Howard studied law in his native Ireland, earned an MA in philosophy at King’s College London and worked for the European Commission. He is currently a pensionnaire étranger at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, as well as a Teaching Fellow and PhD candidate in the United States.

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5 Responses

  1. Roy Eugene Peterson

    Tundra swans are something I never contemplated. What an interesting choice for a poem and an inspired ending.

    Reply
    • Daniel Howard

      Nor had I until I came across the following madrigal by Torquato Tasso:

      Bella Angioletta da le vaghe piume
      Prestane al grave pondo
      Tante, ch’io esca fuor di questo fondo,
      O possa in qualche ramo
      Di te cantando dire: “Io amo, io amo”.

      Translatable as follows:

      Beautiful little angel lend your wings
      To one in the abyss,
      That I at last might fly away from this,
      And on some branch above
      Start singing out to you: “I love, I love”.

      It occured to me that a swan could play the same role as Tasso’s angel.

      Reply
  2. Shamik Banerjee

    What a wonderful poem, Daniel! The form, the rhymes, and, of course, the sweet melody birthed by every line. Can’t get enough of it. Brilliant work!

    Reply

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