In the Sixties
Nabokov switched
from ink to eraser-
topped pencil
on index cards a box
of cards for Ada a box
of cards for dreams
whose "curious features"
include "erotic tenderness
and heart-rending enchantment"
in one draft
he traded "stillness and heat"
for "silence， a burning"
so picture：
Vladimir seated
at the trunk of a tree
a spring day
at Wellesley where
he marvels at his students
and their cable-knit socks
the way each elastic
grips without binding
just below
the knee so exquisite
an application of pressure
that when said sock
is slowly
peeled off
the skin shows
no trace at all