Hazel McKay's "Peace" is a short, simple picture of a moment spent outdoors, where the speaker stops and simply listens. The surrounding nature is so still that at first there seems to be nothing to hear at all. The speaker's pause, marked by the ellipsis after "I can hear...", mimics that act of tuning in, as if they are waiting to see whether any sound will break the calm.
Then the poem gently adjusts itself: it isn't complete silence after all. The wind moves through the leaves, and birds chirp softly. These sounds don't disturb the quiet but seem to belong to it, deepening the sense of calm. The repetition of "still" and "quietness" reinforces this feeling. The speaker seems content and relaxed, almost grateful for the moment. The mood is soothing and unhurried, and the plain, short lines let the reader slow down along with the speaker, which suits a poem whose title names the feeling it wants to create.