Good morning…
To end our Zoom gathering, he gently read to us a poem, a poem I had never met.
******
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.
*****
“Do not tax your life with forethought of grief,” my mind quietly said to my heart. “Feel above you the day-blind stars waiting with their light,” I repeated to myself, sensing the darkness needed to illuminate hidden light. I sat still for a while enveloped by the peace taught by wild things.
The next morning, I held a spiritual direction session over FaceTime as we nestled separately in our own homes. Together, she and I listened for God’s silent steady stream inviting us to sit. To slow. To sense. Eventually she said, “There is a poem that helps calm me when I begin to feel anxious.”
“Will you read it to me?” I asked. Finding it on her phone, she cleared her throat and read aloud.
“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,” she began, “I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.”
Her voice continued, slow and sure, “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.”
She then said, “I read this poem by Wendell Berry to my family this morning, and tonight we are planning to go into the backyard, lay down on a blanket, and look up at the stars shining light in the dark.”
We both agreed. We are freed from our growing despair when we rest still for a time in the great grace of our God.
You, Lord, are my shepherd.
I will never be in need.
You let me rest in fields
of green grass.
You lead me to streams
of peaceful water,
and you refresh my life.
You are true to your name,
and you lead me
along the right paths.
I may walk through valleys
as dark as death,
but I won’t be afraid.
You are with me,
and your shepherd’s rod
makes me feel safe (Psalm 23:1-4, CEV).
Come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. Come into the presence of still water and bright stars. Only the Sustainer of our universe can free us from the despair growing across our globe.
…Sue…
P.S. Thank you, Corinne Adams, for this still shot of this peaceful pond.
