Yesterday I did a repeat poet for the month, and I’m going to continue the trend today. I wrote earlier this month about how much I love Theodore Roethke’s The Waking. Like that poem, today’s selection is melodic, musical, hypnotic. However, unlike The Waking, I see a love poem. A slightly desperate, deeply passionate love poem.
Theodore Roethke
National Poetry Month Day 9: Learn By Going Where You Have To Go
Another of my all-time favorite poets is Theodore Roethke. Many of his poems sound like music to me; they have such amazing rhythm. The one I’m sharing today is my all-time favorite of his. “Learn by going where I have to go” – I think of it as a mantra, words to live by.
I’ve actually shared this poem here before. That’s how much I love it.
The Waking
A big part of life at Corrymeela is daily Worship. Really it’s formally referred to as Worship and Reflection, but like most people we shorten words and titles whenever we can. And it has the formal name of Worship and Reflection because although Corrymeela has Christian roots and ethos, it is a place that welcomes those of all faiths and non-faiths. So during our 15-20 minutes twice daily in the Croi, just about anything can happen. I have seen Christian worships, a Jewish Shabbat Kiddush, an explanation of Ramadan, a Baha’i service and countless secular spaces ranging from reading children’s books to meditation to speaking about forgiveness. Anyone on-site can lead worship and everyone – volunteers, staff and visiting groups – are welcome to attend or not attend as they see fit.
Worship is often one of my favorite parts of the day. I find that especially when the day is long and chaotic and full of energy, it serves as a quiet space to take a short time out to collect myself and refocus. I also enjoy that because anyone can sign up to lead worship, often you walk in not knowing what to expect. I appreciate learning about others’ faith and values and wisdom. I also think that because the leader has almost complete reign over the setup and atmosphere of the Croi, worship feels like a particularly special time where our normal environment is altered slightly. And because it happens most days at 9:30 am and 9:00 pm, it is a satisfying way to begin and end the day (although, let’s be real, our days often begin and end much earlier and later. Hence the reference to time outs).
It took me a while to work up the guts to lead worship, and in the end I only did it for the first time because on a Friday night there was no one signed up to lead Saturday morning worship and I was convinced into doing it. I think the terrible cold I had weakened my defenses and helped me to think it was an okay idea, and although at the time it was scary and difficult, I am really glad I took the leap. I’ve now led worship a total of four times and it’s still scary and difficult and often I feel frustrated afterwards because it didn’t go how I had hoped, but it’s also challenging in a really good way. It forces me to think about my values and what I think is important and what I think is worth sharing.
So without much further explanation, I want to share the poem I read in my last worship. It is one of my most favorite poems and the last line of the first stanza has become one of my personal mantras.
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 Semi Nomadic Kind of Life 