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 or 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 (b.1934) Author

I found this great blue heron feeding (quite successfully) at the weir dam in front of the Elizabethton Covered Bridge. It stood perfectly still as it waited for fish, so I was able to keep the shutter open to soften the water coming over the dam. What a beautiful and graceful bird -- so peaceful and patient. It knew a little fish would flop over the wall and be pushed up against that log by the current -- no need for worry or dispair. Just watch and wait (and trust).