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….. ❤️
Me, too. ❤️
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!
Thank you, Teri! Did you get any snow? I bet you would have welcomed an electric blanket on those bitter cold days. I’m happy you found some peace thinking about Wendell Berry’s poem. I often turn to his poems for comfort and peace. ♡
No, Barbara. We did not have any snow at our home. Small patches of sleet and slippery ice. The hard freeze went down to 29 degrees. I had the thermostat set to 72, but it only could get the house warm to 68 degrees. This house is 85 years old on pier and beam with original hardwood floors and Mexican tile. There’s lots of air flow from outside coming inside, unfortunately. I have been getting a lot of exercise up and down a four foot step stool adjusting ceiling air vents so it doesn’t blow on my bed, but flow better through the house. Originally the house didn’t have an HVAC system. I have I plugged floor drafts with towels. Also tested the best ceiling fan flow.
I finally have the air flow to generate all the rooms temperature to match my thermostat settings. I set it between 68-72 depending on my comfort level.
We were lucky that our home didn’t experience power outages or internet & cable as thousands of people did not fare so well. It truly is unusual for our temperatures to get too cold for very many days. It will be warm again in another week back to our delightful 70 low 80 high out side. I’m grateful that I have a place to call home.
I did remember this photo of the Great Blue Heron with the eel in its mouth. I don’t remember how long I have been reading your blog. I remembered the photo immediately that I had seen it before. You are certainly a talented photographer! I hope that you are well enough to attend the exhibit event tomorrow and that the weather cooperates!! ❤️
Thank you for your kind words, Teri. Had a flare-up yesterday but think I can get it together to get to the reception today. The weather looks good, with the afternoon high expected to be in the 50s, which is the average temperature here for January. There were a couple of days there that it didn’t get above 30.
Keeping your drafty nest warm enough sounds like a full job! We heard so much about the snow in New Orleans on the news here, the pictures were incredible. I hope the delightful 70s and 80s are right around the corner for you. Please stay safe and warm! ❤️
You have captured such beauty here Barbara and once again paired that photo with this peaceful poem. Looks like both you and the heron were in the right place at the right time!
Thank you, Linda! That heron spent quite some time struggling with that eel before he finally swallowed it. Reading the poem brought back the memory and then I found the picture on an old post. 😉
I may have remembered your heron and eel photo now that you mention it as I probably mentioned the birder/blogger who posted photos of a heron with a frog or a big fish going down that long neck and kicking and flailing around as it made its way down. It was a video and quite incredible to see.
You have a good memory, Linda. 🙂 Yup, you did mention the blogger who shared a video of a heron swallowing a frog, still alive and kicking, in one of your comments.
https://www.ingebrita.net/2022/07/early-bird-gets-the-worm/
Thank you Barbara and thanks for the link to your prior post. After I typed my comment it dawned on me that I might have mentioned Sandra’s heron … it gave me an uneasy feeling watching that frog “going down the hatch” so to speak. I walked around the corner of the house by the garage this morning and a Cooper’s Hawk took flight right then … wherever it was perching, it was low down as I got a good look at it as it went airborne, so it was close. There are a lot of Sparrows that are sitting in my Japanese Weeping Maple this Fall/Winter. I’m thinking maybe because Jacob pruned the big Pyracantha bush which needed a haircut and I couldn’t reach it without a ladder. I see at least 40 Sparrows take flight every time I come around that corner – this morning there were none. That was chilling and if the hawk is near, usually I hear the Blue Jays screeching and there was nothing. I hope that hawk wasn’t looking for squirrels. He had nothing in his talons thankfully.
As I often say, nature is as brutal as she is beautiful. Sometimes it’s difficult for us to accept that everybody has to eat. My father used to sum it up for us by saying, “it’s eat or be eaten.” As hard as it is for those of us who are tender-hearted to accept, that’s the way it is. At least the predators only take what they need. I didn’t appreciate my father’s lessons at the time but these days I appreciate what he was trying to teach us about the circle of life.
Yes, the circle of life. I have often had people comment with a similar saying as your father’s when I bemoaned the hawks circling overhead. Nothing disturbed me like finding out the group of five neighborhood squirrels I fed every morning on my porch became prey for the Cooper’s Hawk and to learn my neighbor watched the hawk go after them (he is a hunter). I would have stopped feeding them and not made them “sitting ducks”. I saw it once at the Park, many years ago; the squirrel I had just given some peanuts to and a Cooper’s Hawk swooped down and that squirrel ran under a picnic bench. It was unnerving to watch.
I know how upsetting it is to see the harsher aspects of nature so close to home. Sending you hugs, my friend.
Thank you Barbara.
Beautiful. Just the tonic I need right now. It’s been one difficult week.
Thank you, Ally. Sad to say, I’m afraid we have many more difficult weeks ahead of us.
Beautiful words and photo. I love catching sight of herons.
Thank you, Merril. Herons are fascinating to watch when they’re looking for a meal.
You’re welcome. I agree!
Love the heron. I’ve started to feel in recent years that they are my “spirit animal” – they have a tendency to appear when I am happy, which makes sense with the activities that make me happy, so that photo with that poem are very apropos.
Thank you, Karma. What a beautiful spirit animal to have. I have read that the way a heron hunts models the quality of patience – of observing and thinking before acting. Yesterday I met someone (originally from Rhode Island) who told me where I could find some herons about 20 minutes away from here. That would make me happy, too, to see some again.
Thanks for this. Something to hold on to).
You’re welcome — we need all the peace we can find…