A Respite

The Peace Of Wild Things

By Wendell Berry

Berry-W

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.

Notes: As our confinement lengthens, and the virus victim numbers climb, we are in a world scarier than fiction. But no matter how off-kilter the world may seem, humans have weathered worse in the past. We all descend from those who survived the 1918 flu, the great depression, world wars, famines, and recessions. We will make it through this, too.

13 thoughts on “A Respite”

Beautifully written! It put a smile on my face 🙂❤️

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Brenda Davis Harsham says:

March 30, 2020 at 2:39 pm

I’m trying to see the light. We will make it through this.

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Thanks for this beautiful and comforting poem by Wendell Barry, which indeed offers dearly needed respite. Your thoughts on all these other catastrophes our families have weathered through offers a bit more light too. Sending thoughts for you and your family to keep safe and well Brenda , xo

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