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[Champagne]

Poem Lyrics of 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.


Review

As we are bombarded with fears of terrorism, how do we maintain a sense of calm? As the violent struggles throughout the world become ever more part of our daily awareness, where do we find peace and hope?

In The Peace of Wild Things, Berry reminds us that in the midst of the daily worries we pile on ourselves, we can “rest in the grace of the world” that surrounds us. He writes of the calming effect of wildness -- the animals who lack feelings of worry or foreboding, the still waters, the stars that are always present with their gift of light; he also shows that getting intimate with nature is so important for restoring a sense of peace and hope in our lives because nature's healing power and it's ability to help us transcend the tendency to “tax our lives with forethought of grief”. The poem begins with a growing despair and concludes by “rest in the grace of the word; it is a contemplative and inspiring hymn to life.


Note:

Wendell Berry, born August 5, 1934, is an American poet, novelist, essayist, philosopher and more importantly for himself, farmer. He lives and farms with his wife and two children on a hillside farm on the Kentucky River near Port Royal, Kentucky, within a few miles of where his parents and grandparents and great-grandparents lived and worked. He is a prolific author, publishing fourteen books of poems, sixteen volumes of essays, and eleven novels and short story collections. His writing is rooted in the notion that one's work ought to be connected with one's place. His poetic voice is simple and resonant, a kind of plainsong. Much of his non-fiction serves as defence of farming and the connectedness he perceives as inherent in rural life. He examines the historical and ethical implications of people's relationships to the land and to other living creatures; he seeks connections, and the kind of "sense" he wishes to make in his writing takes those connections into account.
_________________
I'm Champagne,
Bottled poetry with sparkling joy.

[[Champagne]]

Poem Lyrics of 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.


Review

As we are bombarded with fears of terrorism, how do we maintain a sense of calm? As the violent struggles throughout the world become ever more part of our daily awareness, where do we find peace and hope?

In The Peace of Wild Things, Berry reminds us that in the midst of the daily worries we pile on ourselves, we can “rest in the grace of the world” that surrounds us. He writes of the calming effect of wildness -- the animals who lack feelings of worry or foreboding, the still waters, the stars that are always present with their gift of light; he also shows that getting intimate with nature is so important for restoring a sense of peace and hope in our lives because nature's healing power and it's ability to help us transcend the tendency to “tax our lives with forethought of grief”. The poem begins with a growing despair and concludes by “rest in the grace of the word; it is a contemplative and inspiring hymn to life.


Note:

Wendell Berry, born August 5, 1934, is an American poet, novelist, essayist, philosopher and more importantly for himself, farmer. He lives and farms with his wife and two children on a hillside farm on the Kentucky River near Port Royal, Kentucky, within a few miles of where his parents and grandparents and great-grandparents lived and worked. He is a prolific author, publishing fourteen books of poems, sixteen volumes of essays, and eleven novels and short story collections. His writing is rooted in the notion that one's work ought to be connected with one's place. His poetic voice is simple and resonant, a kind of plainsong. Much of his non-fiction serves as defence of farming and the connectedness he perceives as inherent in rural life. He examines the historical and ethical implications of people's relationships to the land and to other living creatures; he seeks connections, and the kind of "sense" he wishes to make in his writing takes those connections into account.
_________________
I'm Champagne,
Bottled poetry with sparkling joy.

[ericcoliu]

[[ericcoliu]]

[Champagne]

[[Champagne]]

[fanfan]

As a Chinese poet wrote centuries ago, poetry is a pearl formed around an irritant in the soft bivalve of the mind. Wendell Berry’s The Peace of Wild Things is the embodiment of this spirit.

When despair for the world grows in me

……

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.
_________________
Don't imitate me;
it's as boring
as the two halves of a melon.

[[FFFFFF]]

As a Chinese poet wrote centuries ago, poetry is a pearl formed around an irritant in the soft bivalve of the mind. Wendell Berry’s The Peace of Wild Things is the embodiment of this spirit.

When despair for the world grows in me

……

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.
_________________
Don't imitate me;
it's as boring
as the two halves of a melon.