Wendell Berry died this week, a fine poet whom I used to occasionally encounter in elevators while I was in grad school at the University of Kentucky, and even though he's not on the Concepts of Nature syllabus until October, I thought it would be appropriate to start today's class with my favorite Berry poem:
The Peace of Wild Things
by Wendell Berry
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.
I couldn't read the poem out loud because I knew it would make me cry, but I asked the students to contemplate these questions, relevant to today's reading assignment: What do animals do for us? What do we do for animals?
We had a great discussion about this and several other poems, but this poem kept following me even after class. It's popping up on social media all over the place--in fact, I posted it myself. Kind of ironic that a poet known for his contempt for technology should inspire an epidemic of online posting.
But I love this poem: it moves with the gentle cadence of a person walking in the woods, invites us along on the journey, and leaves us in peace. I have told my family that if they don't read this poem at my funeral, I will come back and haunt them. It is a gift, given to those who struggle with despair for the world and fear for the future, who suffer from disturbed sleep and restless thoughts. I need this poem right now, and if I had a few hours I could explain why. Meanwhile, "I rest in the grace of the world, and am free."
