The lizard came to visit. It was inquisitive, beautiful, brave, even a little brazen. It showed no fear of humans - but humans showed their fear of something other. In places of beauty, one comes quietly, with respect and humility. To experience the beauty of the wind's breath, to spend time with the glory of nature, and to be peaceful - these are moments to treasure. To become less mind-fogged and more in touch with the body of nature.We sit, at the edge of the lake, under tall paperbarks. Cradled within this micro-forest, the thud of the ever-present building and traffic noise dulls to silence. All I hear is the shrill calling of waterbirds and the swishing of swirling wind. In this place of calm stillness, thoughts turn inward, reflections appear, time slows.
The American writer, farmer and environmentalist, Wendell Berry, writes so poignantly about this reflective inner sense of place and peace. It's a place to connect with 'the grace of the world' and engage, deeply, with the earth's splendour. His poem is called '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 life 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 for their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
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