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.





This poem is an imagery of a man slowly getting up and glimpsing out to see the nature awake with him, slowly, as the light shines slowly on the trees, the worm starts crawling up to eat the leaves, and Nature starts to move. And just like the nature that know what it should do and where it should go. The author is doing the same thing by waking up slowly and right away going to the place he has to go.
The structure of the poem helped me to understand the deep meaning of the poem more.
It gave me a sense in the shifts in the authors tone and connotation. And it also showed me when to pause and reflect on the things I just read.