The Return - Theodore Roethke

Larry Robinson Lrobpoet at sonic.net
Fri May 2 22:57:19 PDT 2025


The Return 

Suddenly the window will open
and Mother will call
it's time to come in

the wall will part
I will enter heaven in muddy shoes

I will come to the table
and answer questions rudely

I am all right leave me
alone. Head in hand I
sit and sit. How can I tell them
about that long
and tangled way.

Here in heaven mothers
knit green scarves

flies buzz

Father dozes by the stove
after six days' labour.

No--surely I can't tell them
that people are at each
other's throats.

	- Theodore Roethke




"Be joyful though you have considered all the facts."
    - Wendell Berry



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