Wendell Berry Biography

When despair grows in me
and I wake in the middle of 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
...

Geese appear high over us,
pass, and the sky closes. Abandon,
as in love or sleep, holds
them to their way, clear
...

I.

I dream of you walking at night along the streams
of the country of my birth, warm blooms and the nightsongs
...

The gods are less for their love of praise.
Above and below them all is a spirit that needs nothing
but its own wholeness, its health and ours.
It has made all things by dividing itself.
...

Do not think me gentle
because I speak in praise
of gentleness, or elegant
because I honor the grace
...