The Peace of Wild Things

I go among the trees and sit still. All my stirring becomes quiet around me Like circles on a paper. I cease from trying to remember, And all the world comes in sharp focus. I feel an awareness of wild life.

I search among the trees for peace, But find only the stillness Of heavy boughs hanging low. So I put my arms around the trunks, And love the feel of peace, The quiet green of nature.

There is more than a silence here. Its breath is full of deeper meanings, Of plants and birds and earth. I breathe my thoughts in with the air, And the wild things coalesce in my heart, Until the peace suffuses all they are.

• Sarah Orne Jewett