In kitchen cups concupiscent curds.
Let the wenches dawdle in such dress
As they are used to wear, and let the boys
Bring flowers in last month's newspapers.
Let be be finale of seem.
The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream.
Take from the dresser of deal,
Lacking the three glass knobs, that sheet
On which she embroidered fantails once,
And spread it so as to cover her face.
If her horny feet protrude, they come
To show how cold she is, and dumb.
Let the lamp affix its beam.
The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream.
Let the truth (lamp beam) be grounded (affixed) in being. This is especially appropriate at death. 
 By choosing the verb “affix” here Stevens makes the light that shines on the corpse an incredibly physical force, something indisputably of the world. There is no room to understand this light in the metaphysical sense that poets often give it – this sticky light cannot be mistaken for the woman’s soul as it interacts plainly with the body.
The Emperor of Ice Cream