Mute Swan

(no trumpet) & (no keeper). Save the loyal
spotlight on the water... The moon

is a fool; keeps shedding her miracle light.
Your name is a lie; when the bird-heart

collapses, there's a sound like any
mother's: death on wheels.

But keep your lie. Your hospital coat.
Your economy bite. Your icy, circular dance —

no partner, no aim. (In another poem, dear,
you'd mate for life). How jealousy

moves — wants to snap the S of your neck
for being so lovely.

Brief feather. Transient engine. Circular bloom.

Copyright © 2003 Louise Mathias All rights reserved
from Green Mountains Review
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission