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--Theodore RoethkeThe Waking
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 behind 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 lonely 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.
Is a villanelle!!!! Very tricky to write. I have tried. Much easier if you're cynical and gloomy with it :-)
ReplyDeleteEllie, have you tried to write a villanelle? ...
No, I haven't actually, although I wish I had back in my poetry writing days (long behind me, I'm afraid...).
ReplyDeleteI used to make myself write sonnets, though, for the discipline. That was very, very good for me.
Okay, Ellie, I am officially IMPRESSED. If villanelles are difficult, sonnets are unbelievably difficult!!! :-)
ReplyDeleteEllie, you do inspire me to go look up poetry. I have just gone and looked up villanelles including da most famous which would be of course "Do not go gentle into that good night", a real cliche now, but still such a good poem. For that, many thanks.
ReplyDeleteoh dear, I'm really sorry, but I have to quote this villanelle now. This one is by Barbara L Greenberg. It is called "227 2272".
ReplyDeleteThis voice is a recording in the wilderness.
The circuits are all in use now. Nevertheless,
Thank you for calling Barbara in your hour of stress.
You wish to report disaster at your address?
Fire? Flood? Earthquake? Avalanche? Small craft in distress?
This voice is a recording in the wilderness.
and can not reach the Coast Guard. Let this voice express
A sense of deep involvement in your SOS.
Thank you for calling Barbara in your hour of stress.
You wish to report a crime? You wish to confess?
Don't blame yourself. We are all guilty, more or less.
This voice is a recording in the wilderness
and will not reach a verdict. What it says, it says
by careful prearrangement with your consciousness.
Thank you for calling Barbara in your hour of stress.
Hello. Hello. Are you there? Are you there? Yes. Yes.
Will you help me? Will you help me? Godbless. Godbless.
This voice is a recording in the wilderness.
This voice is a recording in the wilderness.
I hope that's not too bleak?
ReplyDeleteThank you.
ReplyDeleteActually, Cathy, I would assert that the only cliché is the misquote of the Dylan Thomas --- that is, when people say, "Do not go gently..."
ReplyDeleteThey overlook the fact that Thomas definitely intended a predicate adjective and not an adverb.
Yes, cliche is perhaps too strong a word, since the poem is as good as it always was. What I meant was that it is famous and often quoted. Or, as you point out, Ellie, misquoted.
ReplyDelete"Do not go gently" reads badly by comparison.
ReplyDelete