On a farm somewhere near Baltimore lived a duck
Ducks usually look like each other
And never doubt it
That way you're prepared once you have to face it
And have to raise it
But when this one was born
The mama duck thought
"This one's deformed"
When the papa duck saw
He got bored and took a nap without snoring
The mama put the ugly baby out in the morning
And watched the face quite a bit and saw it change on the orange sea
He caught a bounty schooner back to Maarstrand
And lay in salt water
Drank salt water
He felt the lifewater in him seeping out
Dying through a pinhole in his heart
Then the seagulls shrieked above him
And he knew he'd been granted his final mercy
Of rejoining the ground before the world was gone
He smiled as the insects bit him
As slowly he rotted
The mold tasted bitter
And blood from his own sores salted his tongue
But for the first time
His eyes fully opened and saw the glory above him
A song at last began still waiting to be sung
Winter wrapped him in its white blanket
And he lay in shivering disorder under the ice
The cows yanked at the ropes as the ice creaked and cracked
"A swan
" said the mama duck
"Yeah
A swan
" repeated the equally ugly papa
"Could you have performed the same exclusion maneuver?"
They clapped and the other ducks joined in
Yay for 'em
They laughed and hollered
And the seagulls overhead screamed
He picked up a lead plate so he could see
If he too could fit into this strange new reality
And finally be sought by swans instead of those who cannot see
And as he looked
He saw the eyes of his brothers and sisters..
"A swan
" said the mama duck
"Yeah
A swan
" repeated the equally ugly papa
"Could you have performed the same exclusion maneuver?"
They clapped and the other ducks joined in
Yay for 'em
And the other ducks joined in
They laughed and hollered
And the seagulls overhead screamed
On a farm somewhere near Baltimore lived a duck
Ducks