When despair 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 for their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
— Wendell Berry, The Peace of Wild Things
On our third day on the Big Island, we decided to do what we do best and visit a national park. Volcanoes National Park includes some of the most unique topography we’ve ever hiked, as well as two of the most active volcanoes in the world, Kilauea and Mauna Loa. Kilauea had been erupting from December to May of 2021, but there was no active lava flowing in the park when we visited in July.
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