"My Papa's Waltz: The whiskey on your breath……" — Theodore Roethke

"My Papa's Waltz: 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."

— Theodore Roethke

Battered Quotes Beat Quotes Beat Time Quotes Beats Quotes Bed Quotes Boy Quotes Boys Quotes Breath Quotes Buckle Quotes Buckles Quotes Caked Quotes Clinging Quotes Countenance Quotes Death Quotes Dirt Quotes Dizzy Quotes Ear Quotes Ears Quotes Easy Quotes Every Step Quotes From Quotes Hand Quotes Hands Quotes Hard Quotes Head Quotes Held Quotes Hung Quotes I Hung Quotes Kitchen Quotes Kitchen Shelf Quotes Knuckle Quotes Knuckles Quotes Like Death Quotes Make Quotes Me Quotes Missed Quotes Mother Quotes My Head Quotes My Wrist Quotes Off Quotes One Quotes Palm Quotes Palms Quotes Pans Quotes Papa Quotes Right Quotes Right Ear Quotes Romped Quotes Scraped Quotes Shelf Quotes Shelves Quotes Shirt Quotes Shirts Quotes Slid Quotes Small Quotes Small Boy Quotes Step Quotes Steps Quotes Still Clinging Quotes Stills Quotes Such Quotes Time Quotes Until Quotes Waltz Quotes Waltzed Quotes Waltzing Quotes Whiskey Quotes Wrist Quotes Wrists Quotes You Beat Quotes You Missed Quotes Your Breath Quotes Your Shirt Quotes

73 Quotes by Theodore Roethke

Theodore Roethke has 73 quotes on this site. A few more worth reading:

See all 73 quotes by Theodore Roethke »

More Battered Quotes

This quote is filed under Battered Quotes, one of 103 quotes in that category. Here are a few more:

It's a battered old suitcase and a hotel someplace and a wound that will never heal. — Tom Waits
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you… — Martin Luther King, Jr.
Being bullied by a serial bully is equivalent to being stalked or being battered by a partner or being abused… — Tim Field
The Buddha described his teaching as "going against the stream." The unflinching light of mindful awareness reveals the extent to… — Stephen Batchelor
Summer is the time when one sheds one's tensions with one's clothes, and the right kind of day is jeweled… — Ada Louise Huxtable
I inhabit a weak, frail, decayed tenement; battered by the winds and broken in on by the storms, and, from… — John Quincy Adams
It was a strange feeling going into a church I did not know for a service that I did not… — Michael Palin
I got a book token for Christmas and exchanged it for a book called A History of Art, and that… — Philip Pullman
My niece was a sexual-assault victim. My sister is a survivor of domestic violence. We have more shelters for animals… — Hilda Solis
I represent an affluent district, but when I worked to form my county's first battered-women's shelter, some nights there were… — Unknown Author
Since trade ignores national boundaries and the manufacturer insists on having the world as a market, the flag of his… — Woodrow Wilson
War is not two great armies meeting in the clash and frenzy of battle. War is a boy being carried… — Mary Roberts Rinehart

See all 103 Battered Quotes »