Best Thoreau Poems
Henry David Thoreau
Spent two years in a one room chateau
Went to the pond to dip his booty
No dice – lifeguards off-duty
Apples red, apples round.
Apples frozen on the ground.
Yellow-mellow apples,
many speckled, bruised and brown.
Henry ate them
when he went wooding.
Said they tasted like apple pudding.
Woods launder no human friendship while freely growing.
Nature excels; man rebels - indeed, indeed, I cannot tell:
One sees a dell darken, then harkens the inward morning;
One seeks inspiration to bargain jargon all cities sell.
First spring then summer done, I am the autumnal sun,
Bright so no trees choke over man’s smoke-rendered shroud.
My life has been the poem such raw nature strummed,
Then strung with spun-flavors from a low-anchored cloud.
To a Marsh Hawk in spring, my poems would easier sing
Than within the circuit of this plodding life of society.
I was made erect and lone within a forest-toned scene
That soothed me with a song of nature scored in propriety.
POEM TITLES USED / HENRY DAVID THOREAU
1. Friendship
2. Indeed, Indeed, I Cannot Tell
3. The Inward Morning
4. Inspiration
5. I Am the Autumnal Sun
6. Smoke
7. My Life Has Been the Poem
8. Low-Anchored Cloud
9. To a Marsh Hawk in Spring
10. Within The Circuit of this Plodding Life
11. I Was Made Erect and Lone
12. Song of Nature
Society was petty tedium to him, but woods were friend.
There, by a pond, he fashioned a simple cabin shelter
and lived with mother nature as his favored captain.
Simplicity was his theme and need a perspective thing.
If it did not sustain, bring joy or entertain, he felt it whim.
To him, accessories and treasures were error-effort reaped
for they often severed and tethered his time and energy.
To his surprise, one day, rays of sunshine flashed a prize
so artful before his eyes that he wrapped it like a parcel
and hiked home to place it in a nook on his cabin mantel.
After many weeks had passed, he noticed with a gasp
that his marbled, shiny keepsake shone artful no more.
Smoke, ash and inside-other had all its glory covered.
He could not condone what his ownership brought on.
When the next day’s morning sun shone upon the pond,
in fronds, freshly-nature cleaned, gleamed one stone.
These words
Stream-of-consciousness-soup really
Rarely chosen with care
Falling on thirsty ground
A lost soul trying to find
"the great forgotten language" *
For
"the unspeakable and incommunicable prison of this earth." *
Uh-huh, I see you pointing
To the "lost lane-end into heaven" *
And the shepherd standing there
So, I tried to be a sheep, to babble things I didn't know
I found salving comfort in believing I was right
Protected
And loved--no matter what
But "the great forgotten language" *
Of the forever lost and alone
Drew me again to this place I never left
Where I knew before I nestled in her womb
The "quiet desperation" **
That haunts us all (according to Thoreau) **
So, yeah, these words
I'll keep putting them down in the lost and found
Because somebody might need to know who I am
I do
These breadcrumbs to the deep dark core of my existence
(Not to find me out but to find me in)
No one has to read them
They're uncomfortable and nearly unconscionable
Yet I can't not write them down
Like Thomas Wolfe wrote Look Homeward Angel
Then You Can't go Home Again
(LOL)
They might not lead to where I want to go
Or anywhere at all
And that's okay
T.S. Eliot said:
"We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time." ***
So, yeah, that's all I want
Makes me feel less lost and alone
So putt'n deez words down Imma gonna keep
(Duh--)
* From Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe
** From Walden by Henry David Thoreau
*** From Little Gidding by T. S. Eliot
gently under concordian hymn's, drifting through handwritten currents.
where willows weave their lengthy signatures drawn across the calm collection of a bristled
pool. a library of leaves lies around the trees knotted trunks, dry and crumbling. tossed
carelessly and thumbed through by the knowing wind each one placed indefinitely like an
obscere character in a dusty warn old novel or myth.
they tell in their darkened shades secrets of the ways of the squirell's. who gather from
treetop canopy's climbing down to rocky shorelines to lower their heads in an early morning
baptismal reverance.
they search with tiny hands through the soil's cyclical chambers. like hindu children along
the ganges, whose red dotted foreheads seem to perennially sprout throughout the fields of
wildflowers. impossible to number as i float by in the marrow of a lone pine whose stern now
breaks over the fellowship of several large mouth bass who came to hear the reverend
speak, turning in his low tones through stone pulpit channel's.
now the oak pew becomes a paddle, so i tithe a little in a swirl. sitting with a hardbound
copy of thoreau next to me and a piece of dark rye in a paper bag, together we break bread
and drift slowly in an unsteady tide.
He lived in his own way with his own rule book
Thoreau needed only a bit of paper and a sharp pen
We admired his woods, his violets, his bubbly brook
Moving me to the country? Please tell me when.
Deep in these woods quest solitude,
Invite the heart and mind to stay;
See fare and food in attitude,
Choice learns to start a better way.
Engage spirit as body finds,
Reach to contact a deeper whole;
Niche zest and wit with peace of mind.
Thrill your own pact as truth makes whole,
Heed stillness here as silence treats,
Observe the feel of tensile calm;
Rise to now steer the path you meet,
Embrace wise will that spreads sweet balm.
Ample speaks more in affluent seed,
Use joy galore to feed scant need.
Leon Enriquez
03 May 2015
Singapore
Gangly Longfellow walled in Thoreau and thru...
Well stocked with
wordsworth lxiii numbered yesteryear
born as predicted by
bubba's zayda longtime seer
while in utero premier
ultrasound detected
smudged embryonic fetus
whoosh auditory proto language unclear
surprisingly enough sounded analogous
to murmuring... huh yepper sonneteer
vaguely resembling, yes
William Shakespeare
though burbling, gurgling,
requiring absolute zero noise to hear
kickstarting, reverently warbling
difficult, diligent, distinct yawping,
nonetheless reckoned as dérailleur,
viz swiftly tailored
inchoate anatomical gear
hurriedly and harriedly styled
pièce de résistance
yours truly born with silver dictionary
in his mouth, I f***'* swear
unusual biological phenomena
drew pediatricians far and near,
which (no surprise) determined
English major as academic career
matriculating upon immediately
exiting birth canal whip smart derriere
i.e. (ŧ§), spread like wildfire, where
media hounds blitzkrieg stunned to stare
not at me but bare
naked lady in no mood...ready to tear
away sophisticated audiovisual equipment
understandably on verge going nuclear
furious, (this told me later in life as here
say), she quickly (albeit groggily)
curtly demanded fair
remuneration, and milked
infant me as cash cow profiteer,
her eyes aglitter signaling,
shining, seeing... gold
let whoever sneer
earning money with initial gasp of air
freeing parents to live
within lap of luxury
world wide web sightseer,
yours truly received
royal carpet treatment everywhere
crisscrossing the globe
accoutered with most
expensive designer babywear
obliviously prattling, jabbering, gabbling...
invariably drawing throngs
across entire northern hemisphere
broadcast as podcast across atmosphere
all across the universe hoodwinking
convincing many of "FAKE" poetic story
concoction courtesy adept fictioneer.
Gangly longfellow thoreau and thru...
Well stocked with
wordsworth lx numbered yesteryear
born as predicted by
bubba's zayda longtime seer.
While in utero premier
ultrasound detected
smudged embryonic fetus
whoosh auditory proto language unclear
surprisingly enough sounded analogous
to murmuring... huh yepper sonneteer
vaguely resembling, yes
William Shakespeare
though burbling, gurgling,
requiring absolute zero noise to hear
kickstarting, reverently warbling
difficult, diligent, distinct yawping
nonetheless reckoned as dérailleur,
viz swiftly tailored
inchoate anatomical gear
hurriedly styled pièce de résistance
yours truly born with silver dictionary
in his mouth, I f¨ç°ˆ˜© swear
unusual biological phenomena
drew pediatricians far and near,
which (no surprise) determined
English major as academic career
matriculating upon immediately
exiting birth canal whip smart derriere
i.e. (ŧ§), spread like wildfire, where
media hounds blitzkrieg stunned to stare
not at me but bare
naked lady in no mood...ready to tear
away sophisticated audiovisual equipment
understandably on verge going nuclear
furious, (this told me later in life as here
say), she quickly (albeit groggy)
curtly demanded fair
remuneration, and milked
infant me as cash cow profiteer,
her eyes aglitter signaling,
shining, seeing... gold
let whoever sneer
earning money with initial gasp of air
freeing parents to live
within lap of luxury
world wide web sightseer,
yours truly received
royal carpet treatment everywhere
crisscrossing the globe
accoutered with most
expensive designer babywear
obliviously prattling, jabbering, gabbling...
invariably drawing throngs
across entire northern hemisphere
broadcast as podcast across atmosphere
all across the universe hoodwinking
convincing many of "FAKE" poetic story
concoction courtesy adept fictioneer.
Thoreau Through and Through
Breathe and observe, duet sitting on a beach,
Or a Walden Pond, attend details' breach,
Ripples, waves, light glinting off splashes,
Warm sun crust, rays streaking striped sashes,
Surge after surge wash over and under,
Awareness catches subtle and quiet thunder,
Surface Cat's Paws emerge by breeze breath,
Wash lapping waves upon lack of depth,
Closed eyes hear resounds of cardio throbs,
Thoreau math minuses the bleating mobs,
Don't Go with the Flow but Put Your Ducks,
In a Row, fulfill your life: "I am!", not "Aw Shucks!"
None of this stuff is electronic the child said.
Shaking a seashell upside down next to his head.
His mother is astounded that he does not understand the outside.
Yet she has taken no time to show him how to enjoy ocean’s tide.
She has not shown him trees or pointed out the beauty of the sky.
It is not his fault that he is no Thoreau, this poor little guy.
You see she is busy with her cell phone, and her computer too.
She does not see the tulips, mushrooms, violets, clouds or sky of blue.
American naturalist, essayist, philosopher, poet, teacher and transcendentalist.
He pursued spiritual growth through denial of worldly pleasures and simple living.
He left society to live apart in a small cabin as one of the first hippies to exist.
D Thoreau 'INDEPENDENCE'
__________
one / ___ /| one
/_________
man| BALLOT | vote
| BOX |
| |
May we be blessed to acknowledge all the wonders in our life
that have, for us, thus far accrued…
and to begin each day with a word of thanks…
and thoughts of gratitude.
Today I’m thankful when in the forest wherever I may go
how I’m reminded of the words of Henry David Thoreau
In the forest from out of nowhere his words come to me with ease
“When I take a walk into the woods,”he said,
I come out taller than the trees.”