Since I stroll in the woods more often br than on this frequented path, it's usually br trees I observe; but among fellow humans br what I like best is to see an old woman br fishing alone at the end of a jetty, br hours on end, plainly content. br The Russians mushroom-hunting after a rain br trail after themselves a world of red sarafans, br nightingales, samovars, stoves to sleep on br (though without doubt those are not br what they can remember). Vietnamese families br fishing or simply sitting as close as they can br to the water, make me recall that lake in Hanoi br in the amber light, our first, jet-lagged evening, br peace in the war we had come to witness. br This woman engaged in her pleasure evokes br an entire culture, tenacious field-flower br growing itself among the rows of cotton br in red-earth country, under the feet br of mules and masters. I see her br a barefoot child by a muddy river br learning her skill with the pole. What battles br has she survived, what labors? br She's gathered up all the time in the world br --nothing else--and waits for scanty trophies, br complete in herself as a heron.