Life is sorrow, overcome it. Content, ideas, language and structure are explored. Despite a ragged crack that was making its way down the plaster, the fresco was as pulsing with life as though one was actually looking out on a placid freshwater lake. Swans mate for life Upon reading a short novel We meet and love It is a destiny Sing, swim, sing Fly fly fly Drab, joyous, drab I do not know if We are still in hot love But we both get the idea No matter who dies first The left one will sleep soon. Love : the poet's companion draws a comparison between the swans and the people by noting that the birds 'mate for life'. Life is a duty, complete it. Life is a tragedy, confront it. Life is a promise, fulfill it. Life is a dream, realize it. Life is an adventure, dare it. Winter Swans by Owen Sheers In Winter Swans, a couple’s love is confirmed by the sight of swans on a lake. It was a Pre-Raphaelite portrayal of the Children of Lir, those four siblings cursed to remain swans for nine hundred years. The beauty and majesty of these swans gently remind the couple of the importance of their love, and by the poem's close, they are holding hands. Life is a song, sing it. Life is a struggle, accept it. Sheers's poems are often set in similar natural environments, and he is the anthologist behind A Poet's Guide to Britain—which groups together other nature poems along with some based in cities as well. Life … Life is a game, play it. Life is a challenge, meet it.