Another Walk Around the Lake of Swans

As I roved out around the garden loop,

Australian swans were swimming two by two

And sending ripples through the olive soup.

They bond for life and stay forever true;

What do they know that I don't know?

A pair of South Americans go by:

Their beaks so red and feathers white as snow

They cast my way a sad, imploring eye.

An English swan, the fairest of them all,

Arrests me as she brings to mind my mom.

She's still so stately in her cypress hall

Although she's so far from her childhood home.

She spoke to me as I was leaving,

Reminding me that I'm not done grieving.

(c) Frederick C. Ingram, January 31, 2018

Secret Co(p)y Code

One day I thought as I was trying to move

More stuff for an e-commerce retailer

"At least I have the memory of love. ❤️

(More bloody iambic pentameter.)"

That was enough to get a like from you;

A ruddy heart appeared beneath my own:

Camellia blooming in the snow that threw

A blushing light to warm a heart of stone.

Perhaps one day you'll shop for stuff online,

It could be anything, for home or yard;

Your eyes will rest upon my secret rhyme

And you'll remember when you met a bard.

But didn't trading vessels always hold

Such sweet and tender missives from the bold?