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
Today was our big hiking day on Maui and one of the days I was most excited for on Maui. Haleakalā National Park is named for the dormant volcano that last erupted between 1480 and 1600 and rises 10,023 feet above sea level. Haleakalā means “house of the sun” in Hawaiian, and this name is derived from the legend that says the demigod Maui imprisoned the sun here in order to lengthen the day to provide people more time to dry cloth and grow food.
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