Sun warm on my back

July 21.

2 p. m. — Went, in pursuit of boys who had stolen my boat-seat, to Fair Haven. Plenty of berries there now, — large huckleberries, blueberries, and blackberries.

I am entering Fair Haven Pond. It is now perfectly still and smooth, like dark glass. The westering sun is very warm. 

There is no more beautiful part of the river than the entrance to this pond. He who passes over a lake at noon, when the waves run, little imagines its serene and placid beauty at evening, as little as he anticipates his own serenity. 

The sun is now warm on my back, and when I turn round I shade my face with my hands. Nature is beautiful only as a place where a life is to be lived. It is not beautiful to him who has not resolved on a beautiful life. 

It rapidly grows cool toward sunset. A damp, cool air is felt over the water, and I want a thick coat. 

Ten minutes before sunset I see large clear dewdrops at the tips, or half an inch below the tips, of the pontederia leaves.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal,  July 21, 1853

He who passes over a lake at noon, when the waves run, little imagines its serene and placid beauty at evening, as little as he anticipates his own serenity. See July 21, 1852 (“The river is perfectly smooth, reflecting the golden sky and the red . . . At evening lakes and rivers become thus placid. Every dimple made by a fish or insect is betrayed.”); See also July 3, 1840 ("We will have a dawn, and noon, and serene sunset in ourselves."); August 31. 1852 ("The pond, so smooth and full of reflections after a dark and breezy day, is unexpectedly beautiful."); May 17, 1853 ("Ah, the beauty of this last hour of the day — when a power stills the air and smooths all waters and all minds — that partakes of the light of the day and the stillness of the night!”); August 11, 1853 ("What shall we name this season? — this very late afternoon, or very early evening, this season of the day most favorable for reflection, after the insufferable heats and the bustle of the day are over and before the twilight? The serene hour, the season of reflection! The pensive season")

When I turn round I have to shade my face with my hands. See July 27, 1852 ("I turn round, and there shines the moon”); September 26, 1857 ("Coming home, the sun is intolerably warm on my left cheek . . . when I cover the reflection with my hand the heat is less intense.")

Ten minutes before sunset I see large clear dewdrops at the tips. . . of the pontederia leaves. See July 18, 1852 ("Just before sundown, the sun still inconveniently warm, we were surprised to observe on the uppermost point of each pontederia leaf a clear drop of dew already formed,"); July 12, 1860 ("Just after the sun is set I observe the dewdrops on the pontederia leaves . . .This is the only broad and thick leaf that rises above the water, and therefore it appears to be the only one that collects the dew thus early.")

July 21. See A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, July 21

July 21, 2013

Sun warm on my back

I turn round and shade my face –

a beautiful life.

A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Sun warm on my back

A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau

"A book, each page written in its own season,

out-of-doors, in its own locality."

~edited, assembled and rewritten by zphx © 2009-2024

tinyurl.com/hdt-530721