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.Wendell Berry
from Selected Poems
love blooms bright 
How much I needed this. thanks.
Love Wendell Berry and especially this one. For my sig, on another site, I use this ‘To go in the dark with a light is to know the light. To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight, and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings, and is travelled by dark feet and dark wings.’
It’s a poem I come back to every Advent, and Jen’s post make it feel like the perfect time. I am also very fond of the duck…
Beth — lovely to hear from you. I’m glad it was what you needed.
Oh, I needed this today – and perhaps it explains why I must spend retreat time outside.