(Rafal Grzegorz/Unsplash)

I found bits of it even when
   it maybe wasn’t there like clouds
      or shadow. I found it when
         I wasn’t even looking or didn’t

want it, or it found me when
   least expected, but when I tried
      to grab, away it squirmed and bit me
         hard. How confusing, life! 

I’ve often begged it to let me go.
   I’ll keep quiet, I say. I won’t say
      a word. No one will blame you,
         no one will know. I’ll hide away

from it all. Think I care? it says. So
   in silence I wait, going nowhere.
      Where can I go? I stare out the window.
         Sky cold, blue clay, chalk hills, sandstone 

shadows stuck to the backs of trees, frost,
   until—there! out of nowhere, a swan, red
      with dawn, calling Quick! I’m it, you’re it!
         And we are, together what goes for the world.     

Brian Swann’s most recent poetry collection is Imago (Johns Hopkins University Press), and his latest fiction is Huskanaw (MadHat Press). He teaches at Cooper Union in New York City.

Also by this author
Published in the February 2025 issue: View Contents
© 2025 Commonweal Magazine. All rights reserved. Design by Point Five. Site by Deck Fifty.