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
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7 Comments
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.
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Oh, how wonderful! And timely. Thank you…
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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.
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This is just what I needed today. Thank you. It’s beautiful.
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Beautiful… those words brought a little bit of peace this afternoon, thank you.
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This is beautiful… sometimes even the “day blind stars” show themselves, at least if we squint gently enough.
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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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