Two Poems by Wendell Berry, on Earth Day
The Peace Of Wild Things When despair grows in me What We Need Is Here Geese appear high over us, What We Need is Here has been in my thoughts a lot lately. (Looks like I have a lot of Tumblr reading to catch up on! I haven’t been here in quite a while, except via Instagram posts.)
and I wake in the middle of 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 for their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
pass, and the sky closes. Abandon,
as in love or sleep, holds
them to their way, clear
in the ancient faith: what we need
is here. And we pray, not
for new earth or heaven, but to be
quiet in heart, and in eye,
clear. What we need is here.
