"The Peace of Wild Things"

 

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

"What We Need Is Here"

Geese appear high over us,

pass , and the sky closes.  Abandon,

as in love or sleep, holds

them to their way, clear

in the ancient faith: what we need

is here.  And we pray, not

for new earth or heaven, but to be

quiet in heart, and in eye,

clear.  What we need is here.

Wendell Berry

"The Peace of Wild Things"

When despair for the world grows in me …

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