CALL ME BELOVED

tonight two swans drifted down the channel,
the goslings from the summer grown, now,
into a full, round white. diligently, they cleaned
their feathers, oiling them against the cold.
for a moment their discomfort was my own,
even if they didn’t show it.

I knew we all were suffering, the three of us
aching from the cold – it was their first winter.
the pair looked lonely – quietly preening,
they didn’t even bother to swim. the current
was enough, a gentleness they had settled into
that would carry them like a home through the night.