POEM: The Waking, Theodore Roethke

My grandfather's professor and mentor at the University of Washington, Theodore Roethke has always appealed to me; I feel a sort of kinship to him and his work. This poem, The Waking, speaks to me in a way that few other pieces of literature ever have. The first line of the final stanza ("This shaking keeps me steady. I should know.") seems like such a fundamental truth in my life. During times when my life seems to shake and fall apart, I learn what crutches I may reach for in order to steady myself. In searching for a way to glue the broken pieces of my life back together, I have been able to realize which pieces are actually worth keeping and which need to be thrown away. It's a painful process, but it is necessary. "I learn by going where I have to go."

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.

Light takes the Tree; but who can tell us how?

The lowly worm climbs up a winding stair;

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

Great Nature has another thing to do

To you and me, so take the lively air,

And, lovely, learn by going where to go.

This shaking keeps me steady. I should know.

What falls away is always. And is near.

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

I learn by going where I have to go.