The Swan - reflections on the passing of Queen Elizabeth II
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During a period of national mourning here in the United Kingdom, I thought I would dedicate this month’s blog to the intertwining of love and grief.
Storytelling is a very important aspect of processing grief. There are many people sharing their stories of meeting the Queen, near worldwide acknowledgement of the significance of the occasion, and a sense of wanting to understand how one will remember this time.
When it comes to storytelling, in both love and grief, the swan has inspired many types of storytellers: poets, musicians, artists. Here in the UK, there has been an association to the monarch since the 12th century. The romanticised myth of the final swan-song, where the swan sings beautifully and mournfully before they die, has inspired Pliny, Shakespeare and Samuel Taylor-Coleridge, amongst many others.
Revered by many religions and cultures around the world, swans are known for their lifelong bond between male and female, with their necks often seen intertwined to the shape of a heart.?
The poem I have picked, from all those inspired by the swan, is the translation by Joanna Macy and Anita Barrows of the poem by Rainer Maria Rilke*
This laboring of ours with all that remains undone,
as if still bound to it,
is like the lumbering gait of the swan.
And then our dying—releasing ourselves
from the very ground on which we stood—
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is like the way he hesitantly lowers himself
into the water. It gently receives him,
and, gladly yielding, flows back beneath him,
as wave follows wave,
while he, now wholly serene and sure,
with regal composure,
allows himself to glide.
In this poem, Rilke invites us to meet death as the swan is received into the water - we may be labouring on earth but when our time comes, we can cease struggle and be received, to return to our element. To go home.
May Her Majesty, who dedicated her life to Service, rest in peace to cease and be received.
*Originally heard on the ‘On Being’ podcast: https://onbeing.org/poetry/the-swan/