{"id":5340,"date":"2016-11-11T08:17:20","date_gmt":"2016-11-11T15:17:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/?p=5340"},"modified":"2016-11-11T08:17:20","modified_gmt":"2016-11-11T15:17:20","slug":"theodore-roethke-in-a-dark-time-thoughts-on-the-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/2016\/11\/11\/theodore-roethke-in-a-dark-time-thoughts-on-the-election\/","title":{"rendered":"Theodore Roethke – In a Dark Time (thoughts on the election)"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a Dark Time
\nby Theodore Roethke<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

In a dark time, the eye begins to see,
\nI meet my shadow in the deepening shade;
\nI hear my echo in the echoing wood \u2014
\nA lord of nature weeping to a tree,
\nI live between the heron and the wren,
\nBeasts of the hill and serpents of the den.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s madness but nobility of soul
\nAt odds with circumstance? The day\u2019s on fire!
\nI know the purity of pure despair,
\nMy shadow pinned against a sweating wall.
\nThat place among the rocks \u2014 is it a cave,
\nOr winding path? The edge is what I have.<\/p>\n

A steady storm of correspondences!
\nA night flowing with birds, a ragged moon,
\nAnd in broad day the midnight come again!
\nA man goes far to find out what he is \u2014
\nDeath of the self in a long, tearless night,
\nAll natural shapes blazing unnatural light.<\/p>\n

Dark, dark my light, and darker my desire.
\nMy soul, like some heat-maddened summer fly,
\nKeeps buzzing at the sill. Which I is I?
\nA fallen man, I climb out of my fear.
\nThe mind enters itself, and God the mind,
\nAnd one is One, free in the tearing wind.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a> \u2014 from The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke<\/a>, by Theodore Roethke<\/font><\/p>\n


\/ Image by iNeedChemicalX<\/a> \/<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n

I know many of us are deeply disturbed and frightened by the results of the US elections this week. I won\u2019t say that things are okay. I will just say what I have said elsewhere in recent days:<\/p>\n

Before election day and after election day, the work remains the same\u2013 to give a helping hand, to protect the vulnerable, to cultivate a livable future, to be less blind to others, to be fully present, to embody love in a troubled world.<\/p>\n

=<\/p>\n

This poem by Roethke is one of those poems to keep close in difficult times. <\/p>\n

In a dark time, the eye begins to see<\/i><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

I know the purity of pure despair,
\nMy shadow pinned against a sweating wall.<\/i><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s need to be itself and see beyond social artifice?<\/p>\n

The edge is what I have.<\/i><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

To navigate this necessary dark night of the soul, 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 \u2014 a terrible problem for so many creative non-conformists.<\/p>\n

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 unformed individual and protecting it from exposure to the unknown outside reality. But, if the individual remains within that shell forever, he never experiences the fullness of life. Through spiritual practice, one awakens the fire of life and takes on inner solidity and form. Then, when the shell has become too confining, we can break free into the open air without danger of fragmentation, ready to encounter the new world.<\/p>\n

\u2026Those 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. <\/p>\n

Death of the self in a long, tearless night,
\nAll natural shapes blazing unnatural light.<\/i><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The mind enters itself, and God the mind,
\nAnd one is One, free in the tearing wind.<\/i><\/p>\n

=<\/p>\n

Which poem do you read when you are troubled or frightened? What gives you comfort, clarity, or courage? Let me know.<\/p>\n

Sending love.<\/p>\n


\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a>Recommended Books: Theodore Roethke<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n

\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Poetry for the Spirit: Poems of Universal Wisdom and Beauty<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nThe Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nTheodore Roethke: Selected Poems<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nOn Poetry and Craft<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nThe Glass House: The Life of Theodore Roethke<\/a><\/small><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
More Books >><\/a><\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/center>
\n<\/p>\n\n\n
\n\"Theodore<\/a>\n<\/td>\n\nTheodore Roethke<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

US (1908 \u2013 1963) Timeline<\/a>
\nSecular or Eclectic<\/a><\/a>
\n<\/a><\/a><\/em>\n<\/td>\n

<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

More poetry by Theodore Roethke<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a Dark Time by Theodore Roethke 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 \u2014 A lord of nature weeping to a tree, I live between the heron and the wren, Beasts of the hill and serpents […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2005,1390,2004],"class_list":["post-5340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","tag-dark","tag-theodore-roethke","tag-us-election"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5340"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5340\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5341,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5340\/revisions\/5341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}