Sunday, July 21, 2013

When despair for the world grows in me . . .

hot rock dress, dover, ma

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.


 

Wendell Berry's poem is one of my favorites ~ 
one that stays near in my memory banks, one that has inspired me.  


This past week I found myself hampered by a gray cloud. Be it from an unbearable heat wave, unfathomable craziness in the news, personal and financial stress; I don't know. 
I do know that I was feeling lost and overwhelmed.  


So one morning after dropping the car pool off at camp I stopped at a pond near the camp.  
I have driven by this pond for the past four years, always thinking that i wanted to stop there, it looked so lovely and peaceful.  


Well last week I did.  I didn't have a job to go to until later, I had some free time, 
so I turned my car into the drive.

 

When I got out of my car I saw the blue heron, so beautiful, so peaceful & quiet. It was then that Berry's words sprung into my mind,  suddenly I was living the poem.
i found a peace by the still water, even in the blazing sun. Suddenly the pressures and stresses of my life diminished a bit in my mind.  

 

As i walked the perimeters of the pond, noting the beauty of the lily pads and the flight of the dragonflies, i found this parched picnic table in a sea of hot pebbles and was inspired.  


Making an ephemeral dress is always therapeutic for me.  I get lost in the act of creating with little thought of the finished product, just finding the right material to create the dress. 
The dress that emerged i am calling, my 'hot rock' dress, 
sitting in the blazing hot sun, in the presence of still water, in the grace of world.
Here, i found a peace! and for that I am sooooo thankful!!!
peace


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