“I Come into the Peace of Wild Things”*
Richmond Pond
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It’s a restless time,
A fuzzy time
For me.
Too many words
Would be required
To explain—
The explanation?
The subtext?
The backdrop?
Each
One
Doesn’t
Even
Matter.
It will come
And
It will
Go,
This
Slithering
Disconnection.
~~~
Today I choose
To remember
What
Connects
Me.
Today
I choose
To remind
Us
Of
Those
Wild
Things.
Those fuzzy
And furry
And
Feathered
Blessings,
Both
On
The
Couch
And
Outside
Our
Window.
The peace
Of wild things,
Says the
Brilliant poet,
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.
~~~
Here are the visual and energetic reminders:
~~~
So much to say and nothing to say, about our relationship to these wild things.
How we connect,
How they connect us to ourselves?
Both outside our windows,
And on the couch.
First, this little girl.
How might my life be different, if, at that age, I had those friends?
~~~
Koko
Here are two dear beings who found each other, both now gone, Koko and Robin:
~~~
How to understand—forget understanding—how to even language our relationship with our critters,
The ones we have been blessed with,
The ones we have been
Selected to steward?
The one snoring
On your couch?
Sleeping on the rug?
Drooling on the pillow?
She runs like a wild and crazy thing,
Zooming down the trails,
Returning wildly to her people
Back for her “treats”,
Off again to explore.
To find the treasures within the treasures,
The smells within the smells,
The bits of yum
Inside the yummy.
How to even imagine
Her bliss
In being?
She sleeps in my arms,
Effortlessly
Controlling the placement of
Any and all bodies
with her tiny one.
She falls into sleep
instantly,
And breathes,
Soft belly
Pressed into mine,
Her breathe
And mine
Swaying,
Waltzing,
Hugging
Through
The night.
~~~
Dear Friends,
With love and peace—
May the work we do
Alone and together
Benefit all beings.
May those on
Our planet
Most at risk
Find
Solace
And
Safety
and
Home.
May the blessed
Critters
With whom
We share
This earth
Live
In safety
And
Grace.
All blessings,
Aruni
*Wendell Berry, The Peace of Wild Things