In many ways Wendell Berry, our modern poet calling us not to forget our agrarian past, did not consider himself a liberal, but he was one in the classic sense of the word. In his poetry, essays, and direct action, he was a voice warning us against the rise of agribusiness with its claims to feed the world. He was 92.
Some saw him as a romantic, looking back to a past that could not be recaptured and, in reality, could not really feed the world, not to mention America. To others, he was a radical environmentalist, joining movements in his 80s to protect Kentucky from the disasters of strip mining.
His poetry and essays, however, touch us, much like the Psalms, in the core of our being. They speak to a deep yearning even the most urbanized of us feel. It’s one of the reasons we connect to the earth in one way or another. Wendell Berry found a way to express those yearnings and our wonder at the creation God has given us.
Prayer for the Day
As the morning stars sing together, O God,
We remember that we are not masters of this earth;
As large and small rivers flow down to the sea,
We look with wonder at the intricacy of your creation.
Let us, O Lord, hold the earth as caretakers,
Ministering to all its needs as we would do for ourselves.
In the name of the One who walked among the lilies
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
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 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.
The heavens are telling the glory of god; and the firmament proclaims God’s handiwork
Psalm 19: 1