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The Right Thing

Theodore Roethke, Theodore Roethke poetry, Secular or Eclectic, Secular or Eclectic poetry,  poetry, [TRADITION SUB2] poetry,  poetry by Theodore Roethke
(1908 - 1963) Timeline

Original Language
English

Secular or Eclectic
20th Century

Let others probe the mystery if they can.
Time-harried prisoners of Shall and Will --
The right thing happens to the happy man.

The bird flies out, the bird flies back again:
The hill becomes the valley, and is still;
Let others delve that mystery if they can.

God bless the roots! -- Body and soul are one!
The small become the great, the great the small;
The right thing happens to the happy man.

Child of the dark, he can out leap the sun,
His being single, and that being all;
The right thing happens to the happy man.

Or he sits still, a solid figure when
The self-destructive shake the common wall;
Takes to himself what mystery he can.

And, praising change as the slow night comes on,
Wills what he would, surrendering his will
Till mystery is no more: No more he can.
The right thing happens to the happy man.

 

 

-- from Poetry for the Spirit: Poems of Universal Wisdom and Beauty, Edited by Alan Jacobs

Amazon.com

 

Themes

  Birds
  Mountain
  Night
  Sun
  Trembling


Recommended Books


The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke, by Theodore Roethke
The Glass House: The Life of Theodore Roethke, by Allan Seager
On Poetry and Craft, by Theodore Roethke
Poetry for the Spirit: Poems of Universal Wisdom and Beauty, Edited by Alan Jacobs
Straw for the Fire: From the Notebooks of Theodore Roethke, by Theodore Roethke

More >>

 

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Ivan M. Granger's original poetry, stories and commentaries are Copyright © 2002 - 2011 by Ivan M. Granger.
All other material is copyrighted by the respective authors, translators and/or publishers.