It’s Poetry Friday, and today I’m honoring Wendell Berry who passed away this week. One of his most celebrated poems is “The Peace of Wild Things”:

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 is much to love in this poem, my favorite line being “And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light.” I wrote alongside Wendell Berry this week, and while I didn’t use his line in my poem, I was inspired to contemplate the lessons we can learn from nature.

Beginning
by Rose Cappelli

When questions ping-pong my brain –
what’s next?
how much?
why?
I consider the diligence of the bees,
the brilliance of the maples,
the courage of the monarchs
(who journey beyond
what should be possible).
In a world of changing circumstance
they know what to do.
I breathe deeply
and begin.
Draft, RoseCappelli2026

Photo taken at Longwood Gardens.

Patricia has the roundup today at Reverie where she writes alongside Emily Dickinson, Be sure to stop by for lots more poetry goodness.