Wild Things Gazing

“Hidden in the glorious wildness like unmined gold.”― John Muir

“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

Withing arms reach, embrace
Outside the door, cross the threshold
The ground before, walk it out
The wild things, the peace and grace
Forest green, woven in plain sight
Slowness to see required
Wonder and awe to enter
Unmined gold
Of nature, not man
Dig daily.

“In every walk with Nature one receives far more than he seeks.”― John Muir