THE PEACE OF WILD THINGS
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
— Wendell Berry
Love. This.
I had a resting in the grace of the world moment yesterday during a run where I went off the beaten path and discovered a beach I’d never seen, empty and gorgeous. It was amazing, and I didn’t have words for it then. But I do now, in borrowing Berry’s words.
Oh, how wonderful! And timely. Thank you…
beautiful, how they know how to rest, the animals, the world. thank you for sharing this. it takes me out of myself for a moment.
This is just what I needed today. Thank you. It’s beautiful.
Beautiful… those words brought a little bit of peace this afternoon, thank you.
This is beautiful… sometimes even the “day blind stars” show themselves, at least if we squint gently enough.
Oh, to escape “the fear of what [our] lives may be,” at least for a quick, quiet moment. Thank you for sharing this poem, which is new to me, on this peaceful Sunday afternoon.
Love love this one. the Rev read this at our wedding.