When despair for the world grows in me ..........I come into the peace of wild things
This poem by Wendell Berry which I will put in its entirety at the end of this post is where I am right now. I love visiting Mrs Magpie in her den where all is peaceful. When she visits me however (she knows where I live) it is not so peaceful. Other animals are lounging around the house and although she is canny and likes to fly in through the window and sit on the table, anxiety creeps in, whereas in her place all is calm. She has a new friend there too - a rook who had been shut in a tiny cage for far too long and anyway can't fly at the moment who I have named Larry, because as soon as I rescued him and set him free he was as happy as - well- Larry. Mrs Magpie swoops down when I call her name and sometimes tries to cache (bird term for hide) her titbits in the fold of my cardigan sleeve which I'm not too keen on and remove when she's not looking. At times I just sit in there with her and talk nonsense with her. She is perfectly capable of talking nonsense back.
Pocket has asked me why I haven't written another story with him in it.
I think I might be suffering from writer's block I say.
You mean neurotic inhibitions of productivity he replies washing behind his ear. Your motivations are flagging.
The thing is, I reply, you can get writer's block if you are depressed but I feel depressed because I'm not writing anything.
You are suffering from The Black Cat as us felines say.
Surely you mean The Black Dog don't you?
Nancy the black cat.
He changes ears and tells me that I should ask Nancy, who is always telling us the end of the world is nigh. Anyway, he adds, writing is easy - all you have to do is cross out the wrong words.
Mark Twain said that I told him - have you actually read any of his books? He ignored me, turned to washing the tip of his tail and said
Don't force a poorly conceived idea onto a blank page. He glared at me. Take my latest novel Of Mice and Cats - that was never a poorly conceived idea.
Don't you mean Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck I correct. That's a very good book. Have you ever actually read any of his books? He turns his back on me and I hear him murmur there are words that convey little added value to writing. Very is one of them.
Most yurt makers (of which she is one) don't like to make covers for someone else's yurt but as the man who'd originally made it had turned to planting trees she very obligingly said she would. And what a beautiful job.
I don't normally advertise on my blog but I want you all to know - dear readers - that if you want a yurt she's your person.
https://milliesyurts.com/
A rose is a rose is a rose he informs me. Gertrude Stein said that I tell him - have you actually ever read ........oh never mind.
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 lives 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 with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
Wendell Berry
