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 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 first read this poem in a book titled "This Place I know- Poems of Comfort." It is a collection of poems selected by Georgia Heard. After September 11, 2001, she was approached by a friend working in the New York City school system who asked her for a selection of poems that could be read to the school children in the city. The poems are accompanied by illustrations from well known children's book artists. It is a lovely book and I find myself referring to it on days when the daily news of the world is loud and overwhelming.
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