zwaanloos

William B. (voor Butler) Yeats (1865-1939) kon er poëziaal gesproken ook wat van.

In de met water gevulde zandgaten ten behoeve van de Vinex-wijk in aanbouw, waar ik wekelijks meerdere malen tussendoor fiets, waren namelijk zwanen. Niet de nine-and-fifty waar Yeats het over heeft, maar wel minstens twintig.

Die er nu niet meer zijn, waarschijnlijk elders aan het overzomeren of wat wilde zwanen plegen te doen. Dus ik moest denken aan dit gedicht, met name de laatste drie regels.

Wild Swans at Coole

The trees are in their autumn beauty,
The woodland paths are dry,
Under the October twilight the water
Mirrors a still sky;
Upon the brimming water among the stones
Are nine-and-fifty swans.

The nineteenth autumn has come upon me
Since I first made my count;
I saw, before I had well finished,
All suddenly mount
And scatter wheeling in great broken rings
Upon their clamorous wings.

I have looked upon those brilliant creatures,
And now my heart is sore.
All’s changed since I, hearing at twilight,
The first time on this shore,
The bell-beat of their wings above my head,
Trod with a lighter tread.
Unwearied still, lover by lover,
They paddle in the cold
Companionable streams or climb the air;
Their hearts have not grown old;
Passion or conquest, wander where they will,
Attend upon them still.

But now they drift on the still water,
Mysterious, beautiful;
Among what rushes will they build,
By what lake’s edge or pool
Delight men’s eyes when I awake some day
To find they have flown away?