Where do you find the peace of wild things?

Today is Earth Day. A day to celebrate spring and, in many places, hold demonstrations and work to help educate communities about how we are hurting our mother and how we can hep heal her. If you're like me, and working today, you won't be going to any demonstrations. But you might be able to open a window and listen to the miracle of birdsong. Or you might be able to step outside and feel the sun on your face. Or breathe in deep that glorious smell of earth coming back to life after a long, long winter. No matter where you are, you might be able to find a moment to grasp the peace of wild things, if only fleeting. Grasp it and hold tight. Then think about how you can do better to help care for this world we live in, that gives us these gifts every single day.

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.

Source: Collected Poems 1957-1982 (Counterpoint Press, 1985)

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Monday Morning Warm-Up:

Where do you find the peace of wild things? The grace of the world? Write your own poem and tell us all about it.