TO A CHILD WHO INQUIRES
HOW DID YOU COME TO ME, MY SWEET?
FROM THE LAND THAT NO ONE KNOWS?
DID MR. STORK BRING YOU HERE ON HIS WINGS?
WERE YOU BORN IN THE HEART OF A ROSE?
DID AN ANGEL FLY WITH YOU DOWN FROM THE SKY?
WERE YOU FOUND IN A GOOSEBERRY PATCH?
DID A FAIRY BRING YOU FROM FAIRYLAND?
TO MY DOOR ~ THAT WAS LEFT ON A LATCH?
NO ~ MY DARLING WAS BORN OF A WONDERFUL LOVE,
A LOVE THAT WAS DADDY'S AND MINE.
A LOVE THAT WAS HUMAN, BUT DEEP AND PROFOUND,
A LOVE THAT WAS ALMOST DIVINE.
DO YOU REMEMBER, SWEETHEART,
WHEN WE WENT TO THE ZOO,
AND WE SAW THE BIG BEAR WITH A GROUCH?
AND THE TIGERS AND LIONS, AND THAT TALL KANGAROO
THAT CARRIED HER BABE IN A POUCH?
DO YOU REMEMBER I TOLD YOU
SHE KEPT THEM THERE SAFE
FROM THE COLD AND THE WIND, TILL THEY GREW
BIG ENOUGH TO TAKE CARE OF THEMSELVES?
AND, DEAR HEART,
THAT'S JUST HOW I FIRST CARED FOR YOU.
I CARRIED YOU UNDER MY HEART, MY SWEET,
AND I SHELTERED YOU SAFE FROM ALARMS;
THEN ONE WONDERFUL DAY THE DEAR GOD
LOOKED DOWN,
AND I SNUGGLED YOU TIGHT IN MY ARMS.
Olga Petrova
