Dancing Tree Poem by Galina Italyanskaya

Winter, winter, come again!
Bring a snowfall in the dawn,
Clothe the forest in your gown,
Bleach the conscience of a man!

I would flee to pray for us
From the town in the dusk.
Much to say and more to ask...
Icy silence - broken glass.

Through the forest white and still,
By the river sleeping tight,
Skiing in the ghostly light,
Sliding faster down the hill...

Childish dreams of fairness,
Freezing breath around my face,
Starlight, piercing through the space -
Cold is nothing, dark is less.

I recall a dancing tree
By the ski track long ago
In the moonlight, in the snow
Always naked, lone and free.

If it knew the fate of mine,
I would beg to tell me why
We must live in lies and die,
Can not catch each other's eye.

But the snowfield of my past
Has been swallowed by the town
And the magic tree has gone -
No more dancing, no forecast.

_______________________

(31 January 2018, Ukhta)