On the Road Home
--Wallace Stevens 

It was when I said,
“There is no such thing as the truth,”
That the grapes seemed fatter.
The fox ran out of his hole. 

You . . . You said
“There are many truths,
But they are not parts of a truth.”
Then the tree, at night, began to change, 

Smoking through green and smoking blue.
We were two figures in a wood.
We said we stood alone. 

It was when I said,
“Words are not forms of a single word.
In the sum of the parts, there are only the parts.
The world must be measured by eye”; 

It was when you said,
“The idols have seen lots of poverty,
Snakes and gold and lice,
But not the truth”; 

It was at that time, that the silence was largest
And longest, the night was roundest,
The fragrance of the autumn warmest,
Closest and strongest.