A walker in winter woods stops at a witch hazel branch and looks closely at it. The speaker greets it with a soft "Hello, silk," picking up on the flower's delicate yellow, which looks like curdled milk. Then the mood tightens: the bare wood is called a "noose," though it shows no tooth marks, so nothing has gnawed at it. The image is a little threatening, yet the branch is untouched.
As light snow blurs the view, the logs seem to glow as white as egrets. The next comparison, "Victoria's secrets," is a surprise, bringing in something playful and a bit cheeky. The poem ends on "hope against hope," the sense of holding on when little supports it.
The speaker feels both unease and tenderness. The mood is quiet, hushed and wintry, but with a small, stubborn glow. The title's mirror and Janus suggest two faces, so the poem may be balancing darkness and hope, death and beauty, in a single scene.