poems from Marie

These are poems collected by my beloved Marie. I wish not to tax my life with forethought of grief and to look for the warmth on my back to calm me and make me glad.

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 am free.

— Wendell Berry

I was sleeping, and being comforted

By a cool breeze, when suddenly a gray dove

From a thicket sang and sobbed with longing

And reminded me of my own passion.

I had been away from my own soul so long,

So late-sleeping, but that dove's crying

Woke me and made me cry.

Praise to all early-waking grievers!

~ Adi al-Riga

Do not be surprised that the return of the light lifts your spirits. Do not be surprised that warmth on your back calms you and makes you glad. Feel your spirits lift as the sun rises higher in the sky: this is part of you, this snaky gladness, part of who you have been for a million years. Find the warm places; do not expect them to come to you. When you find them, stay there and be still. Be still and watchful. In this quiet, taste the air. Lick up the taste of it. Listen. Listen with the full length of your body against the ground.

~ Wild Comfort: The Solace of Nature by Kathleen Dean Moore