Central Park

The Daily Plant : Friday, April 18, 2003

SWAN SONG

A pair of swans that lived on the Lake in Central Park since the early nineties passed away this week. The pair was beloved by many New Yorkers. Although the exact circumstances and dates of their deaths are unknown, it is common for swans to die in pairs. Swans mate for life, and so if one becomes sick and dies, the other often becomes sick as well, unable to function without its mate. The pair that lived in Central Park settled there naturally, and so it is likely that a new pair of swans will soon settle on the Lake, perhaps the offspring of the original pair, following in their parents’ footsteps.

The life cycle of a swan is often seen as an accelerated version of the human life cycle. Swans do not become fully grown until age two and although they may pair up as they enter adulthood, they delay breeding until their third, fourth, and even fifth year. Both male and female swans care for the young, even sharing incubation duties. Swans also migrate together as family units or in small flocks comprised of several families and some non-breeders. Hans Christian Anderson immortalized the similarity between swans and humans in his children’s story, "The Ugly Duckling," drawing comparisons between the swan’s long period of development and human adolescence. Excerpted below are two verses from Sarah Morgan Bryan Piatt’s poem, The Watch of a Swan, which dramatizes the grief of a swan after her mate dies.

I read somewhere that a swan, snow-white,

In the sun all day, in the moon all night,

Alone by a little grave would sit

Waiting, and watching it.

Up out of the lake her mate would rise,

And call her down with his piteous cries

Into the waters still and dim:--

With cries she would answer him.

We will miss these well known Central Park swans—the Lake is not the same without them.

"Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood."

(1888-1965)

Know Before You Go

Harlem Meer Center (formerly Lasker Rink)

Harlem Meer Center