THE PEACE OF WILD THINGS

THE PEACE OF WILD THINGS

by

Wendell Barry

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.

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Wendell Berry (born August 5, 1934) is an American man of letters, academic, cultural and economic critic, and farmer. He is a prolific author of novels, short stories, poems, and essays. He is also an elected member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers and a recipient of The National Humanities Medal. MORE

The poem is from Collected Poems of Wendell Berry, 1957-1982. Worth your time.

Photo credit ~ female wood duck at Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden, Portand, Oregon, USA courtesy of kat+sam under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License via Wikipedia

Photo credit ~ Wendell Berry courtesy of David Marshall under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license via Wikipedia