30 Quotes & Sayings By Theodore Roethke

What's madness but nobility of soul At odds with circumstance? The day's on fire! I know the purity of pure despair, My shadow pinned against a sweating wall, That place among the rocks--is it a cave, Or winding path? The edge is what I have........ Dark, dark my light, and darker my desire. My soul, like some heat-maddened summer fly, Keeps buzzing at the sill.~ From "The Waking" by Theodore Roethke . Theodore Roethke

My Papa's Waltz:The whiskey on your breath Could make a small boy dizzy; But I hung on like death: Such waltzing was not easy. We romped until the pans Slid from the kitchen shelf; My mother's countenance Could not unfrown itself. The hand that held my wrist Was battered on one knuckle; At every step you missed My right ear scraped a buckle. You beat time on my head With a palm caked hard by dirt, Then waltzed me off to bed Still clinging to your shirt. . Theodore Roethke

I learned not to fear infinity, The far field, the windy cliffs of forever, The dying of time in the white light of tomorrow, The wheel turning away from itself, The sprawl of the wave, The on-coming water. Theodore Roethke

The MistakeHe left his pants upon a chair: She was a widow, so she said: But he was apprehended, bare, By one who rose up from the dead. Theodore Roethke

I trust all joy Theodore Roethke

The GeraniumWhen I put her out, once, by the garbage pail, She looked so limp and bedraggled, So foolish and trusting, like a sick poodle, Or a wizened aster in late September, I brought her back in again For a new routine -Vitamins, water, and whatever Sustenance seemed sensible At the time: she'd lived So long on gin, bobbie pins, half-smoked cigars, dead beer, Her shriveled petals falling On the faded carpet, the stale Steak grease stuck to her fuzzy leaves.( Dried-out, she creaked like a tulip.) The things she endured! - The dumb dames shrieking half the night Or the two of us, alone, both seedy, Me breathing booze at her, She leaning out of her pot toward the window. Near the end, she seemed almost to hear me- And that was scary- So when that snuffling cretin of a maid Threw her, pot and all, into the trash-can, I said nothing. But I sacked the presumptuous hag the next week, I was that lonely. Theodore Roethke

I learn by going where I have to go Theodore Roethke

Dark, dark my light, and darker my desire. My soul, like some heat-maddened summer fly, Keeps buzzing at the sill. Which I is I? Theodore Roethke

What grace I have is enough. Theodore Roethke

Be sure that whatever you are is you. Theodore Roethke

Self-contemplation is a curse That makes an old confusion worse. Theodore Roethke

I've recovered my tenderness by long looking; I'm a Socrates of small fury. The waves bends with the fish. I'm taught As 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. Theodore Roethke

May my silences become more accurate. Theodore Roethke

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. Theodore Roethke

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

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow. Theodore Roethke

Love alters all. Unblood my instinct, love. Theodore Roethke

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

I learn by going where I have to go. Theodore Roethke

Deep in their roots all flowers keep the light. Theodore Roethke

What we need is more people who specialize in the impossible. Theodore Roethke

Over every mountain there is a path, although it may not be seen from the valley. Theodore Roethke

Deep in their roots, all flowers keep the light. Theodore Roethke