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Inspiration for the Spirit

A lovely place to wander for poetry and inspiration to soothe the soul

Home ▷ Selected Poems ▷ The Peace of Wild Things

The Peace of Wild Things

by Wendell Berry

"Evening Skies" by Tom Schmidt, mixed media, 2013

click to enlarge

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.

Copyright © 2012 by Wendell Berry • Selection from The Selected Poems of Wendell Berry, Counterpoint (March 1, 2009).
Painting: “Evening Skies” by Tom Schmidt, mixed media, 2013.

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