I learn by going where I have to go

My heart keeps open house,
My doors are widely swung.
~Theodore Roethke

Merry Christmas! I put together this post ahead of time and decided to share these poems before I realized that I'd be sharing them on Christmas. They aren't traditional for the holiday, but they suit the occasion pretty well in their own way. These three poems/excerpts are by Pulitzer prizewinner Theodore Roethke. The Waking starts about twenty seconds in:



The Waking
By Theodore Roethke

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I feel my fate in what I cannot fear.
I learn by going where I have to go.

We think by feeling. What is there to know?
I hear my being dance from ear to ear.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

Of those so close beside me, which are you?
God bless the Ground! I shall walk softly there,
And learn by going where I have to go.

Read the rest here.

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Once More, The Round
by Theodore Roethke

What's greater, Pebble or Pond?
What can be known? The Unknown.
My true self runs toward a Hill
More! O More! visible.

Now I adore my life
With the Bird, the abiding Leaf,
With the Fish, the questing Snail,
And the Eye altering All;
And I dance with William Blake
For love, for Love's sake;

And everything comes to One,
As we dance on, dance on, dance on.

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An excerpt from The Light Comes Brighter:

And soon a branch, part of a hidden scene,
The leafy mind, that long was tightly furled,
Will turn its private substance into green,
And young shoots spread upon our inner world.

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Live Your Poem has the Poetry Friday round-up.