As A Swan in Winter

Rutger van Groningen

When meadows fair, in the sultry air
Were blessed by summer's kiss
Swans sail-ed past on their lakes of glass
In harmony and love's bliss

They turned to face, with all stately grace
To touch their coal-black beaks
A lover's heart, form-ed by the arch
Of graceful snow-white necks

Now summer's gone, golden autumn's flown
These meadows are all cloaked in white
Above I hear in the cold blue air
The cries of the white swans in flight

Our love's grown old and your young heart's cold
As [the] ice that shrouds the lakes
If the bright sun above, cannot thaw our love,
My heart will surely break.

This winter park is now still and stark
The skies do promise snow
Oh, that we could fly with those swans on high,
To go where the warm winds blow

Oh, I do yearn for our love that burned
In summer's sweet delight
But if hope's vain, and my love's disdained
As a swan, I will take to flight

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