The Peace of Wild Things

I come into the peace of wild things....
                                                       Wendell Berry
I came out of the door of a facility for post-operative rehabilitation and for senior citizen residents....and there before me, stepping out of the woods---a doe and two fawns.  The fawns danced across the back yard, very much alive in the moment drawing sustenance in some deep way from their mother.

I just paused, stopped in my tracks and soaked it in--trying to be present in the moment myself.  The words of Wendell Berry came out of my being--"the peace of wild things."  I backed slowly into the door of the facility, wanting to leave the deer in the joy of that moment.

One inside, I wondered how many of these people--the patients, residents and staff in this very luxurious place found that "peace" of being in the moment--not captive to the past nor dwelling on the fate of the future.

When I left, I caught it out of the corner of my eye and just stood there, again in the moment.  This time, a five pt buck was stepping out of the woods, just far enough for me marvel at his majesty. He stood stone still, fixed and fastened on me.  Once again, I backed slowly into the building and took the elevator to the front door--leaving with a taste of the peace of wild things.

Wendell Berry, Poet & Essayist

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 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.

— Wendell Berry