Tag Archives: Henry David Thoreau

FIVE WISE LINES [December 2025]

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William Blake painting of Urizen praying to the world he created, an illustration from "Song of Los."
William Blake:
Urizen prays to the world he created (1795)
Song of Los

I must create a system
or be enslaved by another man’s…

william blake; Jerusalem: The emanation of the great albion

Saying Yoga exists to make one more flexible
is like saying that it exists to wring farts out of one’s body,
both will happen — neither is the primary objective.

Me

He that is without sin among you,
let him first cast a stone at her…

JESUS; John 8:7

The best government is that which governs least.

Henry david thoreau, Civil Disobedience

Gods always behave like the people who make them…

zora neale hurston; Tell my horse

PROMPT: Historical Figure

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Daily writing prompt
If you could meet a historical figure, who would it be and why?
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If babel fish existed or I could have access to a fluid translator, then perhaps Drukpa Kunley, (or, alternatively, Hanshan or Ikkyu,) because I would like to know how that level of freedom is achieved (and whether it’s all it’s cracked up to be.)

If I was on my own for language, maybe Thoreau or Whitman. (For largely the same reason.)

“His steady sails he never furls” by Henry David Thoreau [w/ Audio]

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His steady sails he never furls
   At any time o' year,
 And perching now on Winter's curls,
   He whistles in his ear

“Epitaph On The World” by Henry David Thoreau [w/ Audio]

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Here lies the body of this world,
 Whose soul alas to hell is hurled.
 This golden youth long since was past,
 Its silver manhood went as fast,
 An iron age drew on at last;
 'Tis vain its character to tell,
 The several fates which it befell,
 What year it died, when 'twill arise,
 We only know that here it lies.

“Smoke” by Henry David Thoreau [w/ Audio]

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Light-winged Smoke, Icarian bird,
 Melting thy pinions in thy upward flight,
 Lark without song, and messenger of dawn,
 Circling above the hamlets as thy nest;
 Or else, departing dream, and shadowy form
 Of midnight vision, gathering up thy skirts;
 By night star-veiling, and by day
 Darkening the light and blotting out the sun;
 Go thou my incense upward from this hearth,
 And ask the gods to pardon this clear flame.

FIVE WISE LINES [May 2025]

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It is a happy talent to know how to play.

Ralph waldo emerson

Just living is not enough… one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.

Hans christian andersen

Don’t abandon kindness, mercy, and sympathy in an emergency.

Qiānzì wén [千字文], Ch. 3

Logic will take you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.

albert Einstein

You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment.

Henry david thoreau

“To a Marsh Hawk in Spring” by Henry David Thoreau [w/ Audio]

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There is health in thy gray wing,
 Health of nature's furnishing.
 Say, thou modern-winged antique,
 Was thy mistress ever sick?
 In each heaving of thy wing
 Thou dost health and leisure bring,
 Thou dost waive disease and pain
 And resume new life again.

“Men Say They Know Many Things” by Henry David Thoreau [w/ Audio]

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Men say they know many things;
 But lo! they have taken wings, --
 The arts and sciences,
 And a thousand appliances;
   The wind that blows
   Is all that any body knows.

“I was born upon thy bank, river” by Henry David Thoreau [w/ Audio]

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I was born upon thy bank, river,
   My blood flows in thy stream,
 And thou meanderest forever
   At the bottom of my dream.

Thoreau’s Wish [Free Verse]

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Caspar David Friedrich, Arctic Shipwreck (1824)

“I desire that there may be as many different persons in the world as possible”

Henry david thoreau, Walden

Too many people wish that the world consisted
of those who held the same views as they -

who loved what they loved,
who believed what they believed,
who would do what they would do.

I can't imagine a more boring world than that.

If there aren't those with different:

ideas,
desires,
beliefs,
and values, 

then who will show me something new:
something that -- for good or for ill --
will change my world 
and advance my understanding.

If truth be told,
I'd just as soon spend time 
among the crazy sages who --
having rejected all programming --
will not be made prisoner to a train schedule,
let alone to a norm or convention or protocol.

The madmen who shaman one 
out of all mental conventions.

But such as they are hand forged,
each vibrating at his or her own wavelength --
hard to see and
 not easily found.