Peace

This is kind of a weird thing to write about, but a distant member of my family, a man I don't remember and never met, was murdered recently.

He loved the outdoors, and found peace there. He loved his daughter. He was a good man. He put his life on the line to save the lives of others, and his sacrifice has delivered him to God.

I didn't attend his funeral, but my mom sent me a poem that was read at the service. As someone who feels most at peace when in nature, I had a strong connection with its message. I hope that my second cousin, Richard, is now at peace.

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