Angels? Ghosts? Or ...?

We had to drive into The Cities this morning. We followed "blue highways" instead of interstates. The scenic qualities of I-35 between home and The Cities are lacking. As we proceeded in traffic under pale, gray skies toward White Bear Lake, a flock of five or six trumpeter swans flew from right to left across the road ahead of us. Some day we hope to get a good (or better) photo of white swans as they blend with low-hanging clouds.

December swans, Carlos Avery Sunrise River pools

Photo by J. Harrington

Haunting ephemera! Did we truly see something? What? A flight of angels? A shroud of ghosts? We must admit that sightings such as today's are at least one, perhaps the only, benefit of our chronic Winter overcast. Our response to visions such as we think we saw this morning certainly diminishes any SAD feelings we've been suffering. Now, one of the questions is, is this flock part of a larger group and, if so, where are they wintering? Perhaps it's part of the Sucker Lake flock? So now we're aware of a Hudson, WI flock and a different one in Ramsey County. Where else are swans overwintering locally?

Winter Swans

by Owen Sheers

The clouds had given their all –
two days of rain and then a break
in which we walked,

the waterlogged earth
gulping for breath at our feet
as we skirted the lake, silent and apart,

until the swans came and stopped us
with a show of tipping in unison.
As if rolling weights down their bodies to their heads

they halved themselves in the dark water,
icebergs of white feather, paused before returning again
like boats righting in rough weather.

‘They mate for life’ you said as they left,
porcelain over the stilling water. I didn’t reply
but as we moved on through the afternoon light,

slow-stepping in the lake’s shingle and sand,
I noticed our hands, that had, somehow,
swum the distance between us

and folded, one over the other,
like a pair of wings settling after flight

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