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
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
(I stumbled across this poem and it really resonated with me. The photo is of intellikid at Roan Mountain Bald, around 10 years ago.)
Posts
A beautiful poem.
ReplyDeleteA beautiful thought.
A beautiful photograph of a beautiful child.
Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
Thank you.
Ha. You are definitely a whip!
ReplyDeleteAnd you can't be beat :-)
ReplyDeleteTrue...that's often been Sade of me.
ReplyDeleteI'm not surprised. But now I think we should leave this topic behind us.
ReplyDeleteEeeeeeeeew.
ReplyDeleteUncle!
I submit.
hehehe...
ReplyDeleteAhhhh. The peace of the wild things as only Wendell Berry can capture it. Absolutely love this man. Think I'll C&P into Word and print it out in order to always have it in front of me. Beautiful photo and perfect for this piece.
ReplyDeletetnlib, I wasn't eloquent enough to have a suitable comment for your "bloggy wobbly blues" post the other day, so I'm glad you saw & liked this!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful poem. I'm glad you identified the photo. When I first saw it I thought of Grayson Highlands in Virginia.
ReplyDeleteAh, that heavenly top of the Smoky world. It makes for long thoughts.
ReplyDeleteI'm copying this poem for my Poetry page. To find the world Berry describes, I have only to walk out my back door, take a dozen steps or so, and lie down. I've never done that, but I might now.
Mr. C - when I saw your photos of the Grayson Highlands a while back, I thought of Roan Mtn :-)
ReplyDeleteNance - hope you had a good lie down!