When despair for the world grows in me
–"The Peace of Wild Things" by Wendell Berry
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.
“Huge elephants! Huge jellyfish! Huge whale!”
That was Charlotte, as we made our way through the American Museum of Natural History about two months ago. There’s nothing quite like going to the museum with an active, curious toddler in tow. You see everything as if you’d never laid eyes on it before and it’s all magic, all over again.
We make it up to the natural history museum whenever we can, and the last time we went, about two months ago, she was on fire. We spotted jellyfish, seals, zebras, squirrels, owls, butterflies, fish, deer…just about every animal you can think of. Nevermind for the moment that every specimen at the museum is long dead; it will never cease to amaze me that in New York City, where you can feel so removed from any sort of wildlife, you can walk in and see all of these incredible organisms that inhabit(ed) our planet. It’s incredible.
Post-Marked #5: Animalia is now available exclusively in our shop through Monday, December 5, 2011…and Post-Marked #4: Remaining Wilderness is available through this coming Monday, November 28 - two at once, for the weekend!
I remember the first time I saw the skeleton of a giant ground sloth behind museum glass. My mind is still blown.
More to the point, beautiful notebooks.