Swan in Love

by Brian Schwartz

Someone sent me a short newspaper clipping and it was perhaps the most romantic thing I've ever read:

"The swan that fell in love with a peddle boat is back courting its plastic lover after spending the winter in a local zoo.Swans choose a partner for life but the rare Black Australian swan nicknamed Petra made the mistake of falling for a peddle boat designed to look like a swan. And when Petra's peddle boat lover refused to fly south for the winter Petra also remained, a move that could have killed her as the cold weather arrived. In the end though local zoo chiefs took pity on the swan and gave her and her boat boyfriend a place to spend the winter, and this week the pair were once again on the lake together."

And I decided to grab the essence of the thing and rewrite it and make it even better!

Once not so long ago, there was a swan who fell in love with a little boat. All through that glorious spring and summer, the sun poured down like molten honey, and all the swans danced and played and skimmed over the lagoons. But this swan didn't join them. Day and night he stayed by his beloved, reading love poems to his boat. How wise and majestic she is in her silence, he thought, how thoughtful and strong. Then came winter, and all the other swans flew south to the endless tropical marshes. But this swan stayed by his boat, and as the weather changed the swan was almost frozen. Now God looked down and had pity on the faithful swan, and he made the boat come alive. I always loved you, said the boat to the swan, and they sailed away into the tropic mists. And that is why, if you go to any small town or city with a lake or river, you might see swan boats sailing there. Every one of those swan boats is descended from that brave little swan and the boat he loved.