In a Dark Time
by Theodore RoethkeOriginal Language English
In a dark time, the eye begins to see,
I meet my shadow in the deepening shade;
I hear my echo in the echoing wood --
A lord of nature weeping to a tree,
I live between the heron and the wren,
Beasts of the hill and serpents of the den.
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.
A steady storm of correspondences!
A night flowing with birds, a ragged moon,
And in broad day the midnight come again!
A man goes far to find out what he is --
Death of the self in a long, tearless night,
All natural shapes blazing unnatural light.
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?
A fallen man, I climb out of my fear.
The mind enters itself, and God the mind,
And one is One, free in the tearing wind.
 | -- from The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke, by Theodore Roethke |
| More Poems by Theodore Roethke | Next Poem >>
/ Image by iNeedChemicalX /
View All Poems by Theodore Roethke
Over the weekend I came across the following article:
"Emergency Poet" Opens Literary Pharmacy to Support Mental Health |
Keele University in the UK has decided to open up what they are calling a "poetry pharmacy" to issue poetic therapy and first aid. They've set it up so you can move through rooms based on your particular need, everything from affairs of the heart to when the world is just too much.
I love this idea! We need a poetic first aid center in every community. I suppose, in my way, I try to do that with the Poetry Chaikhana.
If this idea intrigues you, an excellent book to read on the healing power of poetry is Poetic Medicine, by John Fox.
Thinking about poetry as medicine, brought to mind this poem by Theodore Roethke...
This poem by Roethke is one of those poems to keep close in difficult times.
In a dark time, the eye begins to see
The struggle against despair, disorientation, darkness. The solitary individual lost in a lost world. We have all been there at some point in our lives. Deep seekers have a particular tendency to travel through those shadowed spaces.
I know the purity of pure despair,
My shadow pinned against a sweating wall.
That despair is often a deep-seated sense that something is fundamentally wrong with the human world presented to us. It can feel uncaring, limited, violent, broken, and incomplete. In other words, it is a place that does not accept the individual as he or she is. To operate in the human world, we are forced into games of pretense and self-disguise. It is a feeling of homelessness and isolation.
What does one do when the soul is at odds with circumstance? It creates a terrible crisis. As social creatures, we align with the group mind, often without awareness or consent. The more naturally we do this, the better we fit into society and exist in the human world. But what about the eccentrics and visionaries, those who resist that psychic pull in order to answer the soul's need to be itself and see beyond social artifice?
The edge is what I have.
They tend to dwell at the edges. That is where both danger and possibility are found. There we gain the possibility of seeing clearly for the first time, witnessing reality as a complete and self-fulfilled individual.
But the danger is very real, as well. No longer relying on socially constructed reality as our boundary we also lose our safe landmarks. The psyche becomes disoriented and fragile.
To navigate this dark and uncertain territory, the seeker and the artist must cultivate a highly refined inner sense of balance and discipline. This is an important reason for developing a vigorous spiritual practice. Without the necessary inner solidity, the tendency is to rely on dangerous crutches, like excessive drinking and drug use -- a terrible problem for so many creative non-conformists.
Think of it this way: The normal consensus reality is like the rigid shell of an egg. It does an excellent job of safely containing the still-forming individual, giving protection from exposure to the unknown outside reality. But, if the individual remains within that shell forever, the soul never experiences the fullness of life. Through spiritual practice, one awakens the fire of life and takes on inner solidity not dependent on outer containment. At that point, the shell has become too confining and we break free into the open air, cracking the shell but without fragmenting the self. Spiritual practice and deepening self-awareness gives us the inner solidity needed to encounter the new world.
...Those dark periods we experience, they do actually serve a purpose, awakening clarity of vision and a compassionate heart. When we feel most vulnerable and lost, we are often going through our greatest growth and transformation, readying for the blaze of light.
Death of the self in a long, tearless night,
All natural shapes blazing unnatural light.
We must learn to work deeply amidst the darkness. We discover who we really are, slowly emerging from the shadows, for that is our stable landmark when all else shifts about.
The mind enters itself, and God the mind,
And one is One, free in the tearing wind.
=
Which poem do you keep close in your poetic medicine cabinet? What gives you comfort, clarity, or courage? Let me know.
Sending love.
Recommended Books: Theodore Roethke
