Theodore Roethke

(Dreams drain the spirit if we dream too long.)

Love alters all. Unblood my instinct, love.

Those who are willing to be vulnerable move among mysteries.

By daily dying, I have come to be.

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

The stones were sharp,The wind came at my back;Walking along the highway, Mincing like a cat.

When true love broke my heart in half,I took the whiskey from the shelf,And told my neighbors when to laugh.I keep a dog, and bark myself.

May my silences become more accurate.

I've recovered my tenderness by long looking;I'm a Socrates of small fury.The waves bends with the fish. I'm taughtAs water teaches stone. Believe me, extremest oriole,I can hear light on a dry day.The world is where we fling it; I'm leaving where I am.

Self-contemplation is a curseThat makes an old confusion worse.

Be sure that whatever you are is you.