and what better poet to accompany these riches than that most extraordinary man from kentucky - mr. wendell berry!
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
2 comments:
wow, I absolutely love that poem. it's just what I needed to hear at this moment in time.
hey alan, glad that it resonated with you! i find that many of my days are defined for me qualitatively and experientially by my ability to respond to the stresses that crop up in the course of living them. a day with high stress that i somehow "survive" is less worthy than a day with low stress that i cruise through and then sometimes it's the exact opposite.
i know now that the natural world (if i let it in - 'cause it's all around me all the time!) tells stories that make for worthy listening. stories like what's important, what's truly beautiful, what's worth fighting for, and most especially how silly so many of the "important" things that i worry about really are.
steven (dad)
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