Wednesday, August 21, 2013

The PEACE OF THE WILD THINGS

"The Peace of Wild Things"
"When despair grows in me
and I wake in the middle of 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 for their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free."

- Wendell Berry

(thanks, cp)

3 comments:

Snowbrush said...

It's a beautiful thought, but I don't think it fits the truth of nature. I too feel the peace he wrote of, but I know that my peace is connected with my belief that I am safe and warm and have plenty to eat. Nothing in the wild is safe, and, of course, I'm not really safe either.

ancient one said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Vagabonde said...

It is a lovely poem but it would not do for me. Now, my husband would go to the woods and sleep there, but once I went hiking with him in the Sierras and we had to sleep on the ground, not even under a tent. I could not sleep – I could hear so many sounds and I knew bears were around – did not sleep at all – I have slept much better in a hotel in the center of Paris!