<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" class=""><div dir="auto" class=""><h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; clear: both; font-weight: 300; line-height: 1.1; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">The Poems of Our Climate<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" class=""><br class=""></h4><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; line-height: 20px; color: rgb(55, 55, 55);" class="">I<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" class="">Clear water in a brilliant bowl,<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" class="">Pink and white carnations. The light<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" class="">In the room more like a snowy air,<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" class="">Reflecting snow. A newly-fallen snow<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" class="">At the end of winter when afternoons return.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" class="">Pink and white carnations – one desires<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" class="">So much more than that. The day itself<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" class="">Is simplified: a bowl of white,<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" class="">Cold, a cold porcelain, low and round,<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" class="">With nothing more than the carnations there.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; line-height: 20px; color: rgb(55, 55, 55);" class="">II<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" class="">Say even that this complete simplicity<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" class="">Stripped one of all one’s torments, concealed<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" class="">The evilly compounded, vital I<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" class="">And made it fresh in a world of white,<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" class="">A world of clear water, brilliant-edged,<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" class="">Still one would want more, one would need more,<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" class="">More than a world of white and snowy scents.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; line-height: 20px; color: rgb(55, 55, 55);" class="">III<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" class="">There would still remain the never-resting mind,<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" class="">So that one would want to escape, come back<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" class="">To what had been so long composed.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" class="">The imperfect is our paradise.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" class="">Note that, in this bitterness, delight,<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" class="">Since the imperfect is so hot in us,<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" class="">Lies in flawed words and stubborn sounds.</p><br class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><!-- signature open --><div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- <span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">Wallace Stevens</span></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><!-- signature close --></div></div></body></html>