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.

Added: on April 13th, 2005 at 9:09 AM | Viewed: 4674 times | Comments (1)

Poet: Theodore Roethke
Poem: The Return
Volume: They Came to See a Poet: Selected Poems
Year: Published/Written in 1991

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