The Peace of Wild Things

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 I am free ~
- Wendell Berry

An Awesome Sight

Today I brought home 2 large baskets filled with adult (finally) bluejays and set them free. What a magnificent sight! Most were perfectly happy and eager to soar to heights never before experienced. I watched them take baths in the water bowls I set out. They had spent the most recent part of their lives rather crowded in a playpen with screening on top, so the grassy yard was an open pasture! They loved feeling the sun on their bodies and preened in its warmth until it went over the fence. Then they disappeared to find shelter or a limb for the night. Thank goodness the night's are getting warmer.