你是否也看見它，整夜，漂浮在黑暗的河上？

你是否看見它在早晨，飛入銀亮的空氣——

一束白色的花，

絲綢與亞麻的一陣完美抖動，當它

將頭藏進翅膀中；一道雪堤，一片開滿百合的坡岸，

它黑色的喙咬緊了空氣？

你是否聽見它，笛聲和哨音

一種尖銳而深沉的音樂——像雨拍打著樹——像一片瀑布

沖下黑色的岩石？

你是否看見它，最後，就在雲層下——

滑過天空的一個白十字架，它的腳

像黑色的葉子，它的翅膀像河面上伸展的光？

在你心裡，是否感受到它如何化歸萬物？

而你最終領會了，美是為了什麼？

並改變了你的生活？

（倪志娟 譯）

The Swan

by Mary Oliver

Did you too see it, drifting, all night, on the black river?

Did you see it in the morning, rising into the silvery air -

An armful of white blossoms,

A perfect commotion of silk and linen as it leaned

into the bondage of its wings; a snowbank, a bank of lilies,

Biting the air with its black beak?

Did you hear it, fluting and whistling

A shrill dark music - like the rain pelting the trees - like a waterfall

Knifing down the black ledges?

And did you see it, finally, just under the clouds -

A white cross Streaming across the sky, its feet

Like black leaves, its wings Like the stretching light of the river?

And did you feel it, in your heart, how it pertained to everything?

And have you too finally figured out what beauty is for?

And have you changed your life?

Mary Oliver (瑪麗·奧利弗)，美國詩人，曾經榮獲普利策獎和美國國家圖書獎。《紐約時報》在2007年稱讚她是「本世紀最最暢銷的詩人（far and away, this country's best-selling poet.）」。