I Wake To Sleep, And Take My Waking Slow

[Hornius Emeritus]

Re-read Theodore Roethke's poem "The Waking" just now. I have to say that it is one of my favorite poems of all time. It is both mystical and practical. It is true. When all explanations and philosophies fail, I know that "I learn by going where I have to go". And I think that "This shaking keeps me steady, I should know" is one of the truest lines in all of poetry. I love the musicality of this poem.

Thank you, Theodore Roethke!




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.

 

[Steel Shank]

She take you down easy
Going down to her knees
Going down to the devil
Down down to ninety degrees
Oh, shes blowing me crazy
Till my ammunition is dry

Oh, shes using her head again
Shes using her head
Oh, shes using her head again

Chorus:
Im just a givin the dog a bone
Givin the dog a bone
Givin the dog a bone
Givin the dog a bone
Im just a givin the dog a bone
Givin the dog a bone
Im just a givin the dog a bone
Givin the dog a bone

Yeow

Shes no mona lisa
No, shes no playboy star
But shell send you to heaven
Then explode you to mars

Oh, shes using her head again
Using her head again
Shes using her head
Using her head again
Oh, shes using her head again
Using her head

Chorus

Lets go
Oooh, oh, oh, oh

She got the power of union
Yeah, she only hits when its hot
And if she likes what youre doing
Yeah, shell give you alot
(given everything she got)

Ive just given the dog a bone
Givin the dog a bone
Givin the dog a bone
Givin the dog a bone
Givin the dog a bone
Givin the dog a bone
Ive just given the dog a bone
Givin the dog a bone
Im just givin the dog a bone
Givin the dog a bone
Givin the dog a bone
Givin the dog a bone
Im just a givin the dog a bone
Givin the dog a bone
Im just a given a dog
Givin a dog
Givin a dog
Ooooh
Im just a givin a dog a bone

 

[TornACL]

Pure genius.

Both the original poem and the initial reply.

 

[Coelacanth]

Hotel Fire: New Orleans

From first light we fear falling:
after the fever of birth, impetus
toward that natural window, we
reach, cling, our fingers and toes
curled to grip, after the fire
that tempers us for the sun.

There I saw them – I see them still –
thrust from windows,
flailing like children
who know the Earth has failed them:
they snatch at chinks, to ledges,
tumble to the wet street below,
the fire an old and certain death,
the leap the only faith that’s left.


Paul Ruffin

 

[Hornius Emeritus]

Coelecanth,

I know exactly the incident to which Paul Ruffin refers. Have you ever seen the documentary re: that fire?

Absolutely heart breaking.

 

[Coelacanth]

I'm not familiar with the original incident. Tell me about it.

I had read this poem back in the early nineties while in college and thought it was good. I had since forgotten it, but then I remembered it on 9-11 when I saw the people jumping from the WTC.

 

[Hornius Emeritus]

It has been about 20 years since I saw it, so the details are fuzzy.

A hotel caught on fire in New Orleans. I am not sure which one it was. There were three or four women trapped on maybe the 12th floor. The fire was both above them and below them.

A TV crew set up a camera across the street in a bank building and had its camera trained upon the women as they were all gathered at one window, looking out, pleading to be saved. They kept going back into the building to survey their options, then came back out to the window. The situation got more and more desperate. FInally, one by one, with the flames licking out of the top of the window that they were perched at, they jumped.

All of them died with the exception, miraculously, of one, who somehow survived despite breaking nearly every bone in her body. She was doing the narrating of the footage. She was saying things like "and here we went back into the room and, lord, it was so hot. We held hands and looked into each other's eyes and prayed and prayed. Finally, the heat drove us out. We knew if we stayed we would die ..." etc....

Man, it was just really an intense bit of footage. I think there were helicopters that swooped in out of nowhere and plucked people off the roof etc.. even after the police rescue helicopters backed off because of the flames.