Theodore Roethke Love Poems
- 1. I Knew A Woman
I knew a woman, lovely in her bones,
When small birds sighed, she would sigh back at them;
Ah, when she moved, she moved more ways than one:
The shapes a bright container can contain!
... - 2. Open House
My secrets cry aloud.
I have no need for tongue.
My heart keeps open house,
My doors are widely swung.
... - 3. The Far Field
I
I dream of journeys repeatedly:
Of flying like a bat deep into a narrowing tunnel
... - 4. Once More, The Round
What's greater, Pebble or Pond?
What can be known? The Unknown.
My true self runs toward a Hill
More! O More! visible.
... - 5. The Shape Of The Fire
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Whatâ??s this? A dish for fat lips.
Who says? A nameless stranger.
... - 6. Night Journey
Now as the train bears west,
Its rhythm rocks the earth,
And from my Pullman berth
I stare into the night
... - 7. Elegy For Jane
(My student, thrown by a horse)
I remember the neckcurls, limp and damp as tendrils;
And her quick look, a sidelong pickerel smile;
... - 8. Infirmity
In purest song one plays the constant fool
As changes shimmer in the inner eye.
I stare and stare into a deepening pool
And tell myself my image cannot die.
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