The Peace of Wild Things
Blue Heron © Darren Burkey
We hope these words bring some comfort to everyone concerned about the future of nature in the United States this week—and inspiration to keep protecting it. For The Rewilding Institute’s reflections and intentions post 2024 election, click here.
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.
—from The Peace of Wild Things and Other Poems (Penguin, 2018)
Listen to Wendell Berry reading his poem:
“The Peace of Wild Things” by Wendell Berry, A Poetry Film by Charlotte Ager & Katy Wang
The Rewilding Institute (TRI) mission is to explore and share tactics and strategies to advance continental-scale conservation and restoration in North America and beyond. We focus on the need for large carnivores and protected wildways for their movement; and we offer a bold, scientifically credible, practically achievable, and hopeful vision for the future of wild Nature and human civilization on planet Earth. Subscribe | Support
Beautifully written, thanx for sharing.