MM N 632, p. 1
She was a swan –
It glided with its long white
slender neck slowly across the water –
It looked about with kind eyes
Its graceful lines were reflected
in the water –
together with the clouds in the sky
I lived down there
poked about amidst blue-black vermin
– greenish-brown slime – and all sorts of hideous creatures –
[I] floundered around in the mire
remembering a time when I did not
have all that mire in my bronchia
when I lived up there –
Then I was frightened by my own shadow
and I had to return to the bright colours –
I forced my way up –
It was blindingly white
MM N 632, p. 2
– there was the swan
I reached out to it with my hands
it approached me slowly
I thought I could touch it
press its white breast
to mine – rest my head in its down
The water surrounding me was muddy
and in it I glimpsed my countenance
which was terribly pale –
– I saw that it was frightened –
I heard a scream – and I knew
that it was I who had screamed –
The swan was far off – where
the unruffled water reflected
its graceful lines and the sky’s
bright clouds –
MM N 632, p. 3
It would not come any closer
– And I saw that I was
surrounded
by mire – and the swan
was afraid of the mire –
The Swan was far off
– where the limpid
water reflected
the sky’s white clouds
