Listening for the Song

I find a certain peace when I am alone among the trees. Wendell Berry explains it perfectly:

“I go among the trees and sit still
All my stirring becomes quiet
around me like circles on water.
My tasks lie in their places
where I left them asleep like cattle.

Then what is afraid of me comes and lives a while in my sight.
What it fears in me leaves me,
and the fear of me leaves it.
It sings, and I hear its song.

Then what I am afraid of comes.
I live for a while in its sight.
What I fear in it leaves it,
and the fear of it leaves me.
It sings, and I hear its song.

After days of labor,
mute in my consternations,
I hear my song at last,
and I sing it. As we sing,
the day turns, the trees move.” Wendell Berry, A Timbered Choir: The Sabbath Poems 1979-1997

In the calm of the day, I am listening for the song. I’ve already started humming along…and I am at peace.