My mistress is at a more respectful distance,
for, by the coolness of the air,
I am more continent in my thought and
held aloof from her,
while by the genial warmth of the sun
I am more than ever attracted to her.
Henry Thoreau, August 29, 1854
How rarely a man's love for nature
becomes a ruling principle with him,
like a youth's affection for a maiden,
but more enduring!
All nature is my bride.
April 23, 1857
All nature is my bride --
My celibate friend Henry over-compensated for his celibacy by taking all Nature as his bride. He is drawn to her as a lover, a mistress. At times he eroticizes her gaze, as any lover does. What he sees in her, I see in you my Muse.
The earliest promise of the summer. The smooth reflecting surface of woodland lakes in which the ice is just melted. Those liquid eyes of nature, blue or black or even hazel, deep or shallow, clear or turbid; green next the shore, the color of their iris. June 26, 1852
Walden is blue at one time and green at another, even from the same point of view. Lying between the earth and the heavens, it partakes of the color of both. Viewed from a hill top it reflects the color of the sky, but near at hand it is of a yellowish tint next the shore where you can see the sand, then a; light green, which gradually deepens to a uniform dark green in the body of the pond. In some lights, viewed even from a hill top, it is of a vivid green next the shore. Walden
A lake is the landscape's most beautiful and expressive feature. It is earth's eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature. Walden
All that a man has to say or do that can possibly concern mankind, is in some shape or other to tell the story of his love, — to sing; and, if he is fortunate and keeps alive, he will be forever in love. May 6, 1854
Dark shadows on field and wood are the more remarkable by contrast with the light yellow-green foliage now, and when they rest on evergreens they are doubly dark, like dark rings about the eyes of June. June 4, 1855
You see the dark eye and shade of June on the river as well as on land. June 6, 1855
Now I notice where an elm is in the shadow of a cloud,—the black elm-tops and shadows of June. It is a dark eyelash which suggests a flashing eye beneath. It suggests . . . the repose and siesta of summer noons, the thunder-cloud, bathing, and all that belongs to summer. June 9. 1856
There are square rods in Middlesex County as purely primitive and wild as they were a thousand years ago. . . wild as a square rod on the moon, supposing it to be uninhabited. I believe almost in the personality of such planetary matter, feel something akin to reverence for it, can even worship it as terrene, titanic matter extant in my day. We are so different we admire each other, we healthily attract one another. I love it as a maiden. August 30, 1856
I love and could embrace the shrub oak with its scanty garment of leaves rising above the snow . . . I felt a positive yearning toward one bush this afternoon. There was a match found for me at last. I fell in love with a shrub oak. December 1, 1856
The sunniness contrasts with the shadows of the freshly expanded foliage, like the glances of an eye from under the dark eyelashes of June. May 29, 1857
… like the first bright flashings of an eye from under dark eyelashes after shedding warm tears. May 29, 1857
The dark river, now that shades are increased, is like the dark eye of a maiden. May 27, 1859
These expressions of the face of Nature are as constant and sure to recur as those of the eyes of maidens, from year to year, — sure to be repeated as long as time lasts. May 27, 1859
All that a man has to say or do that can possibly concern mankind, is in some shape or other to tell the story of his love, — to sing; and, if he is fortunate and keeps alive, he will be forever in love. May 6, 1854
Dark shadows on field and wood are the more remarkable by contrast with the light yellow-green foliage now, and when they rest on evergreens they are doubly dark, like dark rings about the eyes of June. June 4, 1855
You see the dark eye and shade of June on the river as well as on land. June 6, 1855
Now I notice where an elm is in the shadow of a cloud,—the black elm-tops and shadows of June. It is a dark eyelash which suggests a flashing eye beneath. It suggests . . . the repose and siesta of summer noons, the thunder-cloud, bathing, and all that belongs to summer. June 9. 1856
There are square rods in Middlesex County as purely primitive and wild as they were a thousand years ago. . . wild as a square rod on the moon, supposing it to be uninhabited. I believe almost in the personality of such planetary matter, feel something akin to reverence for it, can even worship it as terrene, titanic matter extant in my day. We are so different we admire each other, we healthily attract one another. I love it as a maiden. August 30, 1856
I love and could embrace the shrub oak with its scanty garment of leaves rising above the snow . . . I felt a positive yearning toward one bush this afternoon. There was a match found for me at last. I fell in love with a shrub oak. December 1, 1856
The sunniness contrasts with the shadows of the freshly expanded foliage, like the glances of an eye from under the dark eyelashes of June. May 29, 1857
… like the first bright flashings of an eye from under dark eyelashes after shedding warm tears. May 29, 1857
I sit on Lee's Cliff
looking into the light and
dark eye of the lake.
May 29, 1857
The dark river, now that shades are increased, is like the dark eye of a maiden. May 27, 1859
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| the eye of a maiden May 27, 2013 |
These expressions of the face of Nature are as constant and sure to recur as those of the eyes of maidens, from year to year, — sure to be repeated as long as time lasts. May 27, 1859
See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, May 27
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, All Nature is my Bride
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 © 2009-2023
In the crucible of my celibate life
purified of all desire,
I enter truth from behind
and call her name --
Simplify!
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