Swan Lake

There is a lovely lake surrounded by a goodly wood that I have many times walked about and around. It is home I am sure to many ducks and geese, because I have seen them paddling and diving in all kinds of weather. I saw, only once, a large turtle slowly make its way up the muddy shore only to be rudely scooped up by a State Park employee and dumped unceremoniously into the back of his pickup truck. I won't forget that, not really, although it wasn't the worst thing I witnessed on that lovely lake surrounded by a goodly wood. I saw a dead swan, an arrow--yes--an arrow protruding through its body just below its long, limp neck. What a sight! Not nearly as sorrowful, however, as its mate paddling itself in ever smaller, solitary circles--a  figure of true desolation in all its fine feathery, whiteness. Such other swans as there were upon this lovely lake surrounded by a goodly wood moved in pairs.

Now, years later, I perambulated about the lovely lake surrounded by a goodly wood and saw the several pairs of swans, the ducks, and the many geese, all happily paddling away. It was an uncommonly mild mid-winter day. I saw, too, the still lonely swan upon the lovely lake surrounded by a goodly wood. It was still circling in ever smaller, solitary circles.