# This tree

Ольга Слободкина

This tree,

this pine-tree

was absolutely lovely in the field

and absolutely round -

like the head of a close-cropped Tobago girl.


But all the snows of Russia

did not let

me make such fine comparisons,

because

I do not have to lose myself

in mysteries of an exotic mind,

my sense of orientation in the world

of both - reality

and wild imagination.


Jan. 7, 2005