Theoretical Swan
The whiteness of the swan moves on the night-
Time blackness of the Thames. It is as though
His bill seems orange, as if the darkened light
Would actually allow another glow
Than white and black. This is an artefact
Of data from the hours before the cliff
Of twilight—the color just an abstract,
Less real than sound waves weaving birch trees if
They fall in hypothetical woods where
Some ontological theory might
Attempt to make white bark and orange flare . . .
The ochre was that insubstantial, slight.
..Its movelessness above the moving stream
….Implies that black-webbed feet are . . . merely dream.