Wendell Berry Wisdom: A Better Place?
A bit of prose (from his novel Hannah Coulter
“Most people now are looking for ‘a better place,’ which means that a lot of them will end up in a worse one. I think this is what Nathan learned from his time in the army and the war. He saw a lot of places, and he came home. I think he gave up the idea that there is a better place somewhere else. There is no ‘better place’ than this one, not in this world. And it is by the place we’ve got, and our love for it and our keeping of it, that this world is joined to Heaven.”
- – - -
When despair grows in me
and I wake in the middle of 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 for their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
Hi Mike,
Where can that poem be found? It’s beautiful.
RB – Google “The Peace of Wild Things.” It hits deep places for me. “I come into the peace of wild things.”
Because (in part) of great losses in my life, I’m afraid I tend to tax my life with forethoughts of more grief.
“I come into the presence of still water.” I’ve heard something similar to that before!
I’m convinced Wendell Berry is one of the best authors/wordsmiths of all time. Jayber Crow and Hannah Coulter both moved me in ways few books have. Thanks for sharing these beautiful words.
Thank you for posting this – it’s exactly what I needed to read tonight. I’m also an anticipatory griever which is pretty pointless. Chris Tomlin’s song “I Will Rise” opens with the words, “There’s a peace I’ve come to know, though my heart and flesh may fail. There’s an anchor for my soul. I can say ‘it is well’” which speaks of this same peace of wild things.
Marta – You know you’re a Wendell Berry fan when you try to figure out how to move to Port William!
Thank you. Any time you feel the need to throw in a beautiful poem, you just go right ahead…