Day 32

"...one ought every day at least to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words." -Goethe

A poem for today: Theodore Roethke's "The Waking" is a villanelle (defined by poets.org as "a highly structured poem made up of five tercets followed by a quatrain, with two repeating rhymes and two refrains.") For more on villanelles, read the full article at poets.org.

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.

A song for today: Public Enemy's "Harder Than You Think." For the definitive PE albums, check out their late 80s masterpiece It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold us Back and the early 90s Fear of a Black Planet.

Works Cited

Public Enemy. "Harder Than You Think." How You Sell Soul to a Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul?, SLAMjamz Records, 2007.

Roethke, Theodore (1908-1963). "The Waking." Poetryfoundation.org. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43333/the-waking-56d2220f25315. Accessed 13 April 2020.