The Path To Heaven Doesn't Lie Down In Flat Miles

Shot by Daniel Ellis, makeup by me, styled by Samantha Lemieux and model Sydney Babcock.

Poem by Mary Oliver.

The Swan

Across the wide waters

    something comes

         floating--a slim

             and delicate

ship, filled

    with white flowers--

        and it moves

            on its miraculous muscles

as though time didn't exist,

    as though bringing such gifts

         to the dry shore

             was a happiness

almost beyond bearing.

    And now it turns its dark eyes,

         it rearranges

             the clouds of its wings,

it trails

    an elaborate webbed foot,

         the color of charcoal.

             Soon it will be here.

Oh, what shall I do

    when that poppy-colored beak

         rests in my hand?

              Said Mrs. Blake of the poet:

I miss my husband's company--

    he is so often

         in paradise.

              Of course! the path to heaven

doesn't lie down in flat miles.

    It's in the imagination

         with which you perceive

              this world,

and the gestures

    with which you honor it.

          Oh, what will I do, what will I say, when those

                       white wings

                   touch the shore?

-Mary Oliver