American naturalist and writer, Henry David Thoreau,
left society for a cabin in woods to live simply and solo.
He hunted arrowheads, wrote essays, poetry and philosophy.
A leading transcendentalist was America’s first hippy.
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.
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.”
what do you really want?
I stared at my husband.
He is way too good to me.
Maybe a cabin in the woods?
Like Thoreau’s cabin?
Exactly!
Let’s build it!
So we did.
A place to sit and think
To be silent
to listen to the trill of the birds
internet did not work well there
I did not have a computer there
I ran back into the house pretty quickly
but it makes a pretty gardening shed
D Thoreau 'INDEPENDENCE'
__________
one / ___ /| one
/_________
man| BALLOT | vote
| BOX |
| |
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.
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.
Frost and Thoreau were going for a walk.
Frost said I can make a poem from a sock.
Thoreau laughed hard
At this braggish bard
Published a poem from this crazy small talk.
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!"
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.
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
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
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.
Henry David Thoreau
Spent two years in a one room chateau
Went to the pond to dip his booty
No dice – lifeguards off-duty
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