I rest in the grace of the world

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

8 thoughts on “I rest in the grace of the world”

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

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