go ask the wagner foundation about the manuscript–
the original–to find the secrets of the swan knight.
ancient name, old story, used-up man.
to save the troubled without reason or caveat:
this is not the way of the swan; aquatic birds
are demonous, the most violent of the natural.
(did you know swan are related to ducks?
and they’re the worst.)
keep your eye on the cob and certainly the pen,
but the cygnet is awful as well.
there are those who cloak themselves in the guise
of the bird, pedaling about the lake, housed inside
waterfowl homunculi. they fool themselves. they
are not safe.