"Disillusionment at Ten O'Clock" Poetry Blog.

Disillusionment at 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

     First off, this poem confused me thoroughly, but I think that's part of the meaning that goes along with the title itself. The word "ceintures" was unfamiliar to me, so I looked it up and it means a girdle or belt. I didn't understand the colored night-gowns at all.
     I think it means that most people are the same and not fancy at night, and only the old "sailor" with experiences has strange and more exciting dreams. The antecedant scenario could be Wallace Stevens being awake himself late at night and feeling this disillusionment, or perhaps he was merely thinking about how people are at night. The overall tone of this poem is whimsical, trippy, or heavy like sleep itself. The descriptions, examples, and words used add to this tone because they feel strange and like "disillusionment at ten o'clock."
     "None are green. Or purple with green... with blue rings...." I did not understand this section of the poem at all. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to understand or if I'm overthinking it, but I'd like to know what Stevens is trying to say here.