A first-person speaker wanders through an autumn wood, observing a beautiful forest and meditating on bygone times. He arrives at the shore of a lake and observes that there are fifty-nine swans swimming upon the reflective water.
He remembers a time when, nineteen years ago, he came to this very lake and was watching the swans when suddenly they all flew away into the sky and scattered. Observing them now makes the speaker's heart ache, because he realizes that so much has changed since he first began to observe the swans nineteen years ago. Things were better back then—even the swans’ wings seemed to beat more lightly in the air.
However, he observes, the swans seem unaware of the passage of time. They remain together, going where they wish. He realizes that even when they fly away from him, or even when he no longer comes to see them, they will still be doing what they have always done, elsewhere for some other observer. They are testaments to the fact that some things are eternal even in a rapidly changing, transient universe.
