威士忌散发于你的呼吸
能使一小男孩晕眩头低;
而我悬垂死命地抓住你:
这样跳华尔兹可不容易。
直到平底锅滑出厨房架子
我们才停止了蹦跳嬉戏;
我母亲的愁容无法舒展
面无悦色且见眉毛凝聚。
那握着我腕部的手
被砸坏了一个关节;
在你错过的每一步
我的右耳刮了个皮带扣。
用一只满是污垢的手掌
在我的头上你敲打节拍，
然后跳着华尔兹放我上床
可我仍然紧拽着你的衬衣。

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 (1908-1963)
生于美国密执安州。从1941-1966年先后发表了11本诗集，从1966-1972年 又发表了三本散文集。1954年他的诗集[醒着](The Waking: Poems 1933-1953)获普利策奖。