Saturday, July 13, 2013

Thoreau's Birthday

July 12, 2013
Various meadowy places nearby

Today is Thoreau’s birthday.
He never mentions any special celebrations in his Journal
(unlike our present-day custom of making a big fuss about it.)
Like any other day, he took his daily walk,
and on that particular hot summer day,
perhaps he thought, “these flowers are gift enough.”
Happy Birthday Henry !


from his Journal of July 12, 1856:

Red lilies in prime,



single upright fiery flowers,



their throats how splendidly and variously spotted,



hardly two of quite the same hue and not two spotted alike, --



leopard-spotted, --



averaging a foot or more in height,
amid the huckleberry and lambkill, etc., 
in the moist, meadowy pasture.






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