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Working: Volume 2, Number 1 - Issue 5 Spring 2023

Living Like the Swans

Issue 5
Marriage is for the birds, I think
Nesting symbols of monogamy and devotion
Handsome eagles, tiny hummingbirds, the gaudy peacock
For me, mostly, mute swans
Life mates.
Do they know we revere them?
Stand-ins for our search for lifelong love?
I think not.
But when I see their
Graceful arching necks
Meeting to form a white heart on blue water
Could there be a bird more romantic?
In flight, their strong wings beat together,
Lessening the resistance.
It seems impossible, that such a mass of feathers and bone
Can lift into the sky
Defying gravity and all that makes sense
They fly.
READ THE FULL PIECE IN ISSUE 5

HEIDI E. WAKEMAN lives, teaches and writes in Gloucester, MA. A long time writer and community changemaker, Heidi seeks to make sense of the world through words, nature, and the healing power of love. She is currently Storyteller in Residence for the Gloucester Writers Center. Her 2023 word is Invitation.

Copyright © 2023 Empyrean Literary Magazine, L.L.C.
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