Wednesday, February 11, 2015

{From My Commonplace}



I've been reading a bit from Wendell Berry's New Collected Poems every night before bed.

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 into a place 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 for their light.  For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

Read aloud by Berry here.

12 comments:

  1. How lovely. I put this in my book too - maybe some memory work for Mama.

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    1. It reminds me of Wordsworth's Daffodils and Yeats' Lake Isle of Innisfree, both of which were mama memory work over here...I think this one will be next! :)

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  2. A lovely selection, and very timely for me, too! Thanks for sharing!

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  3. Beautiful, it makes me want to write poetry again ...it's been 25 years!

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    1. Oh, how lovely. Maybe you need your own poetry notebook? :)

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  4. My comment must have gotten lost. I love the call-back to Ps 23; 'he leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul." Just beautiful.

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    1. Yes, I love the quiet biblical references in his work.

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  5. That's a great idea - read a poem before bed! I want to get a collection of his poems as I've loved the few I've seen online.

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    1. I have this one out from the library right now. I figure I will eventually see a few at a thrift shop, as I know he is popular--just haven't gotten lucky yet. :)

      I really love a poem before bed. Easy to commit to, and it gives me food for (sleepy) thought. ;)

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  6. I second Dawn's comment...love the reference to Psalm 23.

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