Finished reading a book of Roethke poetry over lunch, and ran across a few lines from his notebooks that spoke to me:

“Dear God, I want it all: the depths and the heights.”

“Deep in their roots, all flowers keep the light.”

“Live in perpetual great astonishment”

“Those who are willing to be vulnerable move among mysteries”

“Surround yourself with rising waters: the flood will teach you to swim.”

This is the book: Theodore Roethke: Selected Poems. I’ve always loved his early stuff, and the later material was wonderful, too. The stuff in the middle was a bit beyond me, but I read it and was rewarded nonetheless.