April is National Poetry Month. As we explore ‘Wake, Now, Our Senses’ theme and approach Earth Day, this poem came to mind:

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.

There are so many horrible statistics about the state of the Earth and our interdependence; so many species lost just in our own lifetimes. Today, or sometime very soon, go outside and notice the peace of wild things. And if you can, embody that peace and send it energetically to all the places in the world where war, violence, destruction, greed, hatred, arrogance, and ignorance are.

As Rev. Joe Cleveland sang this past weekend, ‘May I/you/we be filled with loving kindness. May I/you/we be well. May I/you/we be peaceful and at ease. May I/you/we be whole.’

With faith,
Rev. Wendy and Rev. Lynn