09/11/2026
Twenty-five years after a tragic day, the ponderousness of September 11 still lingers. It is when the world feels the most overwhelming that a poet, such as Wendell Berry reminds us that peace can be found in quiet endurance. In honor of the lost lives and the families forever changed, we share his poem, The Peace of Wild Things. May it offer you a moment of stillness, an opportunity for reflection, and a sanctuary from our collective grief.
Sister Shelly
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 life might 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.
(from the collected works of Wendell Berry)
