Wendell Berry: The Peace of Wild Things

If I had to guess, it isn’t just at night when you wake with concern about who and what COVID-19 is effecting: job security, loved ones, personal sanity, the list goes on. When restlessness is at an all-time high, there is solace to be found in Wendell Berry’s invitation to find peace in what is often overlooked. Especially in times of anxiety, I’ve found that grace has a peculiar way of brushing shoulders with the restless if only they’d be still.

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.

 

Media Credit: Square Space

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