Infirmity Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABABCC CDCDCC BEFCGH IDJKLM NOPOQQ RBSCTU| In purest song one plays the constant fool | A |
| As changes shimmer in the inner eye | B |
| I stare and stare into a deepening pool | A |
| And tell myself my image cannot die | B |
| I love myself that s my one constancy | C |
| Oh to be something else yet still to be | C |
| - | |
| - | |
| Sweet Christ rejoice in my infirmity | C |
| There s little left I care to call my own | D |
| Today they drained the fluid from a knee | C |
| And pumped a shoulder full of cortisone | D |
| Thus I conform to my divinity | C |
| By dying inward like an aging tree | C |
| - | |
| - | |
| The instant ages on the living eye | B |
| Light on its rounds a pure extreme of light | E |
| Breaks on me as my meager flesh breaks down | F |
| The soul delights in that extremity | C |
| Blessed the meek they shall inherit wrath | G |
| I m son and father of my only death | H |
| - | |
| - | |
| A mind too active is no mind at all | I |
| The deep eye sees the shimmer on the stone | D |
| The eternal seeks and finds the temporal | J |
| The change from dark to light of the slow moon | K |
| Dead to myself and all I hold most dear | L |
| I move beyond the reach of wind and fire | M |
| - | |
| - | |
| Deep in the greens of summer sing the lives | N |
| I ve come to love A vireo whets its bill | O |
| The great day balances upon the leaves | P |
| My ears still hear the bird when all is still | O |
| My soul is still my soul and still the Son | Q |
| And knowing this I am not yet undone | Q |
| - | |
| - | |
| Things without hands take hands there is no choice | R |
| Eternity s not easily come by | B |
| When opposites come suddenly in place | S |
| I teach my eyes to hear my ears to see | C |
| How body from spirit slowly does unwind | T |
| Until we are pure spirit at the end | U |
Theodore Roethke
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
Previous Poem
The Storm Poem>>
Write your comment about Infirmity poem by Theodore Roethke
Best Poems of Theodore Roethke