Obstacles of the Heart

October 27

She who was

as the morning light to me

is now neither the morning star

nor the evening star.

We meet but to find

each other further asunder

and the oftener we meet

the more rapid our divergence.

So a star of the first magnitude

pales in the heavens –

not from any fault in the observer's eye

nor from any fault in itself 

but because its progress

in its own system

has put a greater

distance between.

The obstacles of the heart 

are like granite blocks

one alone cannot move.

The obstacles which the heart meets with are like granite blocks which one alone cannot move. She who was as the morning light to me is now neither the morning star nor the evening star. We meet but to find each other further asunder, and the oftener we meet the more rapid our divergence. So a star of the first magnitude pales in the heavens, not from any fault in the observer's eye nor from any fault in itself, perchance, but because its progress in its own system has put a greater distance between.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, October 27, 1851 

See also December 15, 1841 ("I know of no redeeming qualities in me but a sincere love for some things, and when I am reproved I have to fall back on to this ground . . . My love is invulnerable. Meet me on that ground, and you will find me strong.");A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Farewell my friend

A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau, Obstacles of the Heart

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 © 2009-2022

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