Thus dunked in blue 

begins the swan's flight from the earth

Air crossed me, I rose from under the tree;
inside I hung at the window
to look at the dark blue lake and the so-classic sun
so distant under the storm.

I worried in the house, wrote direct letters
to the terrible wind at high contact through glass—
swirl of leaf in the yard.

Dark blue beginning, dark blue beginning,
this is better than my turning away,
this dark blue beginning is the coming of ground.

The middle of the lake brings up its wens to the waterline—
I’d better go in.
And the swan falls so slack and cold.
A wreck so far, the swift spatter of rain on the pond
a wish for beginnings.

After this you will shoot off
under the weight of high contact.

Dark blue beginning, dark blue beginning,
I am of the made world, this swan is unnamed.
Dark blue beginning, your kiss is my turning back.
Dark blue beginning, all of the ground comes to me.
Dark blue beginning, you are a stopped word
until all of these swans have flown.