~My Papa's Waltz~
Theodore Roethke
The whiskey on your breath
Could make a small boy dizzy;
But I hung on like death:
Such waltzing was not easy.
We romped until the pans
Slid from the kitchen shelf;
My mother's countenance
Could not unfrown itself.
The hand that held my wrist
Was battered on one knuckle;
At every step you missed
My right ear scraped a buckle.
You beat time on my head
With a palm caked hard by dirt,
Then waltzed me off to bed
Still clinging to your shirt.
It has been a little while since I read this poem, but it has stuck with me. The more I read it and think about it, the more I can relate it to life.
Life whirls us around like the little boy, it is all we can do sometimes to hold on. I know it is a bit of a stretch, but think about it. The young age of 19-20's is a transition age for most young adults. Just getting out on our own, going to school and looking for a career to pursue, it almost seems as though Life is an aggressive drunk, tossing us around to and fro, dancing with us like limp puppets.
"My mother's countenance could not unfrown itself" I picture our mother's watching as we go through this phase in our lives as we learn and find the strength to carry on. There is little to nothing she can do for us, she cannot take the burden from our shoulders. Life will beat us down at every turn, we must do what we can to hold on.
Life is a crazy dance and we are the unwilling partner who must keep step or fall down.
This poem has also stuck with me as well. I never really thought about relating it to life like you did, but it makes sense. Life has its ups and downs and sometimes it can feel like you are dancing with a crazy drunk person! I enjoyed reading your take on Papa's Waltz. It's always nice to be able to go back and look at something from another perspective.
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