Disillusionment of Ten O’Clock

When I taught Juniors in high school, my classes celebrated National Poetry Month in April by making posters to illustrate poems. This poem has plenty of images to choose from.




photo by Dr. Sajjad Sherally Fazel



Disillusionment of Ten O’Clock

The houses are haunted

By white night-gowns.
None are green,
Or purple with green rings,
Or green with yellow rings,
Or yellow with blue rings.
None of them are strange,
With socks of lace
And beaded ceintures.
People are not going
To dream of baboons and periwinkles.
Only, here and there, an old sailor,
Drunk and asleep in his boots,
Catches Tigers
In red weather.

— Wallace Stevens