BERLIN (Reuters) - A swan has fallen in love with a plastic swan-shaped paddleboat on a pond in the German town of Muenster and has spent the past three weeks flirting with the vessel five times its size, a sailing instructor said Friday.He's not half nuts, this German swan, to loveSomething so near the actual, you might squintfrom shore, squishing sand beneath your toes,to see its broad white belly part the shininggreen, neck angled always toward the cloudsdeflecting every antic of its frenzied,mini-suitor. This happens, right? Who amongus with a single red corpuscle hasn't dug inand waited the whole doomed thing to its conclusion,wanting some chill beauty to paddle its slow turntoward us on the man-made lake? In your case,not a Muenster tourist boat, let's hope, but more likethe narcissist with lovely eyes and a voiceto unzip things to, or the one that cut the rightprofile but sank like a Petoskey stone. But still,in spite of tearstains, sucker punches, fists to the glassjaw, the dumb heart beats, and tries again. See,there he goes, beak agog and hissing at the rivalbirds, wings spread to seem more menacing, blackwebbed feet paddling frantic through the algae.Then night sets and a silver moon beams downon bird and boat, afloat alone, and in the palelight looking for all the world like the shape of love.————————————–Christina Kallery called us from Ann Arbor, MI.voicemailpoems.org/submit/facebook.com/voicemailpoemsx.com/voicemailpoemsbsky.app/profile/voicemailpoems.bsky.socialinstagram.com/voicemailpoems