Grisamber???

grisamber:  combination of grey and amber - this grisamber gown....



This weird poem from Dame Edith Sitwell caused me to run to the dictionary for at least five words:


"When cold December
Froze to grisamber
The jangling bells on the sweet rose-trees--
Then fading slow
And furred is the snow
As the almond's sweet husk--
And smelling like musk.
The snow amygdaline
Under the eglantine
Where the bristling stars shine
Like a gilt porcupine--
The snow confesses
The little Princesses
On their small chioppines
Dance under the orpines.
See the casuistries
Of their slant fluttering eyes--
Gilt as the zodiac
(Dancing Herodiac).
Only the snow slides
Like gilded myrrh--
From the rose-branches--hides
Rose-roots that stir."
-   Dame Edith Sitwell, When Cold December 



casuistries  -  clever but unfounded reasoning

                            
  amygdaline  vitamin b17 in apricot seeds

eglantine -  wild rose

 

 

 

 

orpines