The peace of wild things

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 have unashamedly borrowed the title of this beautiful poem for my blog because it resonates so deeply with me, with my feelings about the quiet, wild places I love and those I have yet to discover but already love. I have no idea where this blog will take me, who will read it, what the point of it is, only that I feel compelled to write and that I want to write about that which makes me, keeps me and will eventually take me back.

It is said that you should write about what you know. Well, I know this. Not in an academic, scientific knowledge kind of way but in a personal, spiritual, feeling kind of way. I know what it sounds like when a tree falls, how I feel when a fern's first fronds unfurl from the cold ground of winter, where the dipper most likes to bob up and down in the river, the thrill of seeing a barn owl hunting at dusk, which stones will be grippy and which will slither me into the water, how sad I'll be to see a bald, big-eyed baby bird fallen from a nest, why I have to catch falling leaves and why, when all else fails and I feel lost and afraid I go outside.

My relationship with the natural world is as important to me as the relationships I have with the people I love. It has always been a part of me, forms some of my earliest and most cherished memories and I know no other way to live than with this fundamental tug to the outside. Everyone has their church, their therapy, their cravings and addictions, a way to find calm or a place to find stimulation and drama. I find all mine by connecting myself to nature in some way; walking through the woods, running across fields, cycling on quiet hilly lanes, swimming in cold wild water, foraging for free food, sitting on a sunny bank in spring or even curled up in our cabin reading about someone else's love of similar things.

Thank you for reading, I welcome your feedback and I'm happy for you to share if you feel inclined to.