I'm sleeping

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.

-- from "The Waking", Theodore Roethke

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What is that thin line between one thing and the next? What makes this prose and that poetry? Why is his language better than mine and why does he say things more beautifully than I? Is it because he isn't asking questions? Is it because he is not asleep?

2 comments:

Harlequin said...

who is dreamer
who is dreaming
who(m)
what is sleep


this is quite soft, this poem
I take my waking slow... now there's a lesson

human being said...

stunning...
like Harlequin i loved the lesson of this line:

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.


"Why is his language better...?"

perhaps just because his wounds are deeper...
don't worry it takes time...