Mates for life

I was sitting on the bench at the back of the boat, looking at the reflection of the almost-full moon in the water when a couple of swans arrived. They approached swiftly and in silence but once they got close they started to hiss and peck at my boat. What a fucking attitude. I’ve just googled ‘swans pecking boats’ and what I got instead was a list of articles about aggressive swans attacking people or other animals. Metro had possibly the best headline: ‘Psycho swan sinks boats and beats up ducks and geese on town’s lake’. I love these animal-terror stories. Like the stories about foxes biting off children’s ears. Or kangaroos pushing people into lakes. Anyways, swans. What about them. The BBC says swans stick together for life not because they’re madly in love but because that way they max their chances of having as many cygnets as possible. They also are a ‘highly effective fighting team’. Thank you BBC for ruining my romantic dream. But what is this true love which lasts a lifetime anyway. What is it. I dunno. The amazing Polish poet Wislawa Szymborska asks in her poem True Love:

True love. Is it normal
is it serious, is it practical?
What does the world get from two people
who exist in a world of their own?

I dunno. I put the question to you. Also if you fancy, read the whole poem. I find it very beautiful. And funny. Wislawa was a very funny woman. Love to you wherever you are, Wislawa. And to my friend who introduced me to her work. 

PS: I did not feed the swans my shit. I just put the bag there to take a picture. I tried to feed them blueberries, but as I did one of the beautiful creatures bit my fingers, the blueberry fell in the canal, the swan hissed in disappointment and left.