Ariane Sandford: Two Swans

Two swans glide across dark water
A few feet above the body of a drowned boy.
Police will drag the lake next week.
Now Lancelot and Elaine draw circles with webbed feet.

A few feet above the body of a drowned boy,
The swans keep other secrets, too.
Lancelot and Elaine draw circles with webbed feet.
Their captors clipped their wings so they can’t fly.

The swans keep other secrets, too.
Both are female, despite the names.
Their captors clipped their wings so they can’t fly.
But you can’t fight instinct.

Both of them are female, despite the names.
Females, their captors believe, are less violent.
You can’t fight instinct:
Every spring two swans guard clutches that won’t hatch.

Females, the story goes, are less violent.
Police will drag the lake next week.
Every spring two swans guard clutches that won’t hatch.
Two swans glide across dark water.