lagniappe No. 25

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 to 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 i am free.

by

wendell berry

for

 stevie