The Plaid Dress~
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Strong sun, that bleach
The curtains of my room, can you not render
Colourless this dress I wear?
This violent plaid
Of purple angers and red shames; the yellow stripe
Of thin but valid treacheries, the flashy green of kind deeds done
Through indolence, high judgements given in haste;
The recurring checker of the serious breach of taste?
No more uncoloured than unmade,
I fear, can be this garment that I may not doff;
Confession does not strip it off,
To send me homeward eased and bare;
All through the formal, unoffending evening, under the clean
Bright hair,
Lining the subtle gown...It is not seen,
But it is there.
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