~from Michaela Hayes

I love the circularity of “The Waking.” The poem is a villanelle, a strict and rather complicated poetic form, so by definition it is pretty circular. It discusses the inescapable monotony of life as it interacts with the inescapable uncertainty. The poem is ambiguous and beautiful; it wraps around itself only to unwrap again. What I love most about it is how Roethke takes hold of the villanelle form, almost as if it were made specifically for this poem.

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.

Read a bio of Roethke and find more of his poems on the Poetry Foundation.