“This is my swan song. Whatever I do now, I do it well.
This is my swan song. I fell in love with you, I love you well.
And if the Lord provides the music for the world around to sing,
My love will build a castle in the air.
This is my last chance, a chance to show the world that I am strong.
This is my last dance. I'm walking off the floor where I belong.
And if the Lord provides the music for the world around to sing,
My love will build a castle in the air.”
This is my swan song. I fell in love with you, I love you well.
And if the Lord provides the music for the world around to sing,
My love will build a castle in the air.
This is my last chance, a chance to show the world that I am strong.
This is my last dance. I'm walking off the floor where I belong.
And if the Lord provides the music for the world around to sing,
My love will build a castle in the air.”
Swan Song – The BeeGees
What is a Swan Song exactly? According
to the Oxford’s dictionary the Swan Song is “the final performance or activity
of a person’s career”.
Hmmm. I don’t believe my
career is over, it has just started. My writing career that is. Although… I
don’t believe it to be a career, but a way of life.
Going back to the swan, it’s
symbolic meaning can be various, it just depends on in which part of the world you
live, and what you seek in the meaning.
Swans represent many things:
Love, grace, union, beauty,
balance, transformation.
They might be a symbol of
love, and a reminder of the blessings you found in relationships.
From a Hindu point of view:
when two swans pair-up, they are “swimming around in the divine mind, living on
honey from the blooming lotus of knowledge”.
When you look at swans with a
Celtic eye, they can represent movement, better yet: changes of moods and
heart.
And these are just a few
examples.
Supposedly, the swan only
sings once in a lifetime, just before its death.
We encountered a lot of swans
when we were in London a while ago. They were endearing. They were gracious.
They were just beautiful.
At one point I suggested we should rename our brief
stay in London: “Swan Holiday”. The ponds were filled with the white gracious
birds, and their kids – not yet white, still evolving.
Taking their time for
it. Just as WE did, strolling through Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park.
Inhaling their tranquility, the grace during these moments of peace, just being
what it is we were being. There wasn’t a lot of space between us and them. They
glided through the water, dived in the water whenever they felt the need to, groomed
their feathers, ate the bread that was tossed into the water. And we just stood
there. Until two of them elevated from the water, while spreading their majestic
wings for a flight over the pond. Was it for our benefit? Were they just
showing off? Who knows.
If there ever was a movie made
of this particular moment, it would have been called: “swan heaven”. I was one
with nature, one with the universe. As if the universe was telling me something
I desperately needed to know.
“Whatever I do now, I do it well. This is my swan song. I fell in love
with you…”
Oh yes. I fell in love with London a long time ago. And every time
I’m there, I dive in and fall in love all over again.
Now that I’m back from London,
right here on my coach – writing – I think back to those four days, and the swans
come to mind. Was the universe telling us we needed movement? That it was time
for a change?
The one thing I know for sure,
is that we feel so at home whenever we’re in the UK. The surroundings, the
atmosphere, the people – whenever your cross a bridge, cross the street, look
up because something needed your attention – it all feels so unexplainably
homey.
We don’t know every street, we
might not know where to go whenever we’re in a part of town unknown to us. Yet,
we are never lost. Ever.
As a tourist in London, you
tend to look at a map. And without asking, people are willing to give you
directions. To help you. No matter where you are. And these people are
strangers to you. Or are they?
Maybe on a subconscious level
we connect: ‘hey, I know you!’
Maybe it’s just a fiction of
my imagination.
When did I fall in love with
the UK? I’m not sure. (Sometime during my childhood.) But England, whatever
happens in the (near) future: ‘I know you. I love you.’
This is my Swan Song. “Whatever I do now. I do it well.”
Maybe I should look at the
definition of a Swan Song in a different way.
“The final performance or
activity of a person’s career”.
Maybe the word “career” needs a different approach.
The origin of this word lays
in mid 16th century: (denoting a road or racecourse) - from French carrière,
from Italian carriera, based on Latin carrus: 'wheeled vehicle'.
So maybe, the Swan Song in my
mind is just the wheeled vehicle coming to a stop here in Holland. Maybe I need
to find a way to get it moving again. Whichever way it wants to take me.
“This is my last chance, a chance to show the world that I am strong.”
This is my final blog post in this
shape or form. If the swans teached me anything, it is that is time to move on,
to change my ways. I started writing blogs in 2009, and now it’s time for new
steps. I will return to write on the internet; how and when is yet undecided.
But as Arnold Schwarzenegger said in his famous movie Terminator: I’ll be back!
As a tourist in London, you
tend to look at a map. And without asking, people are willing to give you
directions. To help you. In hindsight I believe our trip to London did just
that: provide directions, to help me. The map is not yet clear to me, but I’ll
get there.
This is my Swan Song. “Whatever I do now. I do it well.”
With the Swans in my mind leading the way...
Love,
San
