Love Poem: Birth of a Swan
Susan Ashley Avatar
Written by: Susan Ashley

Birth of a Swan

Out 
of the darkness

star-lanterns’ beam finds an awakening dream - 
a strewn snowy stream 
gracing the depths of the black swan night


Earthbound

from the realm of the pulsing Polaris 
   ..traveling through time zones 
       of timeless inspiration to timeworn emotions..
snowdrops aquiver with her purity and fluidity 
waft down in a shiver of night glow
with the pale softness of the first pearly plumage
through the ripening plum of a twilight turn 
rich in intuitive fertility
where points of illumination germinate 
on the Cusp of Prophecy 
and cultivate in the star-dusted zenith
of Capricorn


Inspirited

by the steadfast fire 
of the North’s guiding gold 
her solstice soul of innate sparkle 
   ..a whorl of Oneness in sky-dancing swirl 
       ever enchanting the chilled expanse..
lifts the sinking sun
and celebrates 
in a Winter festival of cosmic love
tilting the axis of polar points
re-balancing 
the swoon of the sun and the moon -
 
whispered gifts 
cast adrift like white-winged echos
lilt with the lightness of vesper hymns
resurrecting the youth 
in December’s dawning bloom
with renewed petals passion-dipped in rebirth;
flared fingers of narcissus light lengthen -
bestirring dying embers in heartened hope’s hearths
and delaying the daily dim of scarlet-scarfed sunsets
radiant with lifeblood-promises 
of warming tomorrows


Unifying

luminous energy within and without
plush in the lush phenomena of Spirit and Nature
she comes to nest and rest on maternal sandy shores
destined to glide fluid circles fluent in her transcendent love

E a r t h b o r n


Susan Ashley
December 20, 2018


~ Seventh Place ~
Contest: Premiere Choice No 1188
Sponsor: Brian Strand


*Birth Of A Swan is dedicated to my beloved mother, Alice. Her birthday was on the winter solstice, December 21, 1936. She embodied all that is revered in the symbolism of both the swan and the winter solstice, and will always be loved, cherished and missed by those of us fortunate enough to call her mother, wife, sister, aunt and friend.


*black swan night: until their discovery, it was presumed that black swans did not exist and that all swans were white; hence the expression, a black swan, referring to something impossibly fantastic, or a phenomenon that occurs even though it had been thought to be impossible. In the context of this poem, "black swan night" represents the unique nature of this rare night as an extreme event of good fortune.*

*the paper white narcissus flower is the birth flower of December
and represents youthful innocence, faith and new beginnings*