Gray Room

Although you sit in a room that is gray,
Except for the silver
Of the straw-paper,
… And pick
At your pale white gown;
Or lift one of the green beads
Of your necklace,
To let it fall;
Or gaze at your green fan
Printed with the red branches of a red willow;
Or, with one finger,
Move the leaf in the bowl-
The leaf that has fallen from the branches of the forsythia
Beside you …
What is all this?
I know how furiously your heart is beating.

Wallace Stevens

7 January 2012