The Man with the Blue Guitar

The man bent over his guitar, A shearsman of sorts. The day was green. They said, “You have a blue guitar, You do not play things as they are.”

The man replied, “I play things as they are.” The musician and the day were green. Listen, you are not talking to me about the arms Or the coniferous trees, the elms or the thorns;

The barred window in the driving storm, He was a musician in the rain, While the man watched the window without the rain.

• Wallace Stevens