a poem

The Waking

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.
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I always remember the first time I read this poem by Theodore Roethke.
I was vacationing at Club Med and I took a couple of books with me to "read under a palm tree." I thought that I was taking a book for light reading. When suddenly I read this poem. I must have read it a hundred times that day. It seemed that fate was letting me read this poem just in time.
What attracts me to this poem? Maybe the idea that one must take things slowly. The idea that one shouldn't "fight fate", that the way to live is to go with it...and see where it takes you and see what you learn.
It is a simple message that unfortunately sometimes I forget.