great blue heron feeding
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
(The Peace of Wild Things)
Thank you for sharing that poem Barbara.
While it’s too cold today to actually come into the peace of wild things, just reading those words helps.
It’s time to start practicing yoga and just breathing again.
Peace to you and Tim.
You’re welcome, Janet. It’s nice to have pictures of wild things to return to, too, when one is stuck inside. The other day when I was practicing my yoga and looking out the window, a squirrel came running down a tree, nose first, with a very long twig in his mouth, sticking out of both sides. Couldn’t help but wonder what on earth he was up to! Peace to you as well, my friend.
Amen…
🙏
Herons strike quickly. Good words taking us from despair to peace.
They are fascinating to watch when we need to take our minds off of other things.
This is a wonderful photo, Barbara. And Wendell Berry’s soothing poem about the peace of nature was a true delight, thank you.
Thank you, Jet. The poem brought back memories of watching great blue herons by the water back in Connecticut and sent me hunting for a picture.
I hadn’t read that poem before, but it’s lovely. There’s something so peaceful about Nature, even when she’s upset and tossing storms and precipitation at us. And what a great photo of that heron with its dinner still wiggling!
Thank you, Debbie! Nature does have her moods, doesn’t she? Maybe there’s a lesson for us in that observation, too. Since it’s too cold to go outside these days I sometimes watch YouTube videos of wild birds at feeders out in the snowy woods. So peaceful. Yet, a storm had to deposit all that pretty snow there.
My kind of world….. ❤️
Beautifully paired! Gave me time to pause, returning to a peaceful state of being.
Tense shoulders and neck muscles from my body’s resistance to this unusual arctic weather this morning had me seeking a heating pad and back to bed after a few hours of being up this morning. I realized that there would be no work or chores done in my old very drafty home today.
Your post offers thoughts of peace that we find in the wild of nature. Thank you, I needed this today!