“The Peace of Wild Things”
As we prepare to honor Earth Day on April 22nd, reflecting on our important stewardship—take care of this earth and the earth will take care of all—with clean air, food, refreshing water, and with wild places where we find peace.
The Mitten Buttes in Monument Valley, photo © Simon Dannhauer, 123rf.com
The Peace of Wild Things
by Wendell Berry
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.