Frame thy symmetry
in the forests of the night -
tyger burning bright.

Two white pines on the
rock edge frame a picture of
the forest and lake.

HDT ~ November 1, 1852

A Kildeer runs past
so fast its legs are a blur
just like a cartoon.

A Book of the Seasons: April 20 ( willows, warmth, hermit thrush, snakes, toads. rain, the experience of a day) The year is but a succession of days, and I see that I could assign some office to each day which, summed up, would be the history of the ...

On the long way home
stars shine like a winter night,
dipper upside down.

April 20, 2014
tinyurl.com/hdt-april20

Nature made warblers
to show every hue and shade.
The warblers now come.

HDT ~ April 19, 1854

I am stuck on a ledge
under a precipice of love
no way up
no way down
I have only
the memory of hope
a springtime
when my leaves were green
now turning brown
before the fall.

This “booming” of the snipe is our regular village serenade. I heard it this evening for the first time, as I sat in the house, through the window. Yet common and annual and remarkable as it is, not one in a hundred of the villagers hears it, and hardly so many know what it is. ~ April 9, 1858

One flower in bloom
in the town, and this insect
knows where to find it.

HDT ~ March 18, 1860

The year is a circle April 18 . The most interesting fact, perhaps, at present is these few tender yellow blossoms, these half-expanded sterile aments of the...

tinyurl.com/hdt-520418

An east wind. I hear
the clock strike plainly ten or
eleven P. M.

HDT ~ April 18, 1852

Quickly and surely
the bee finds the first flower
before the poet.

HDT ~ April 17, 1855

A moist, misty, rain-threatening April day. Walden is still covered with ice. April 16 I have not seen a tree sparrow, I think, since December.  5.30 A. M. — To Pinxter Swamp over Hill.  A little sunshine at the ...

tinyurl.com/HDT-560416

A rain-threatening
and misty, moist April day –
Robins sing throughout.

HDT ~ April 16, 1856

A warm, moist night, the moon partially obscured by misty clouds, all the village asleep. April 15 . 6.30 A. M. —To Hill.  It is warmer and quite still; somewhat cloudy in the east. The water quite smooth, — April smooth wa...

tinyurl.com/hdt-560415

The village asleep . . .
a clear, shrill, prolonged ringing –
first toad of the year.

HDT ~ April 15, 1856

A striped snake rustles
down a dry open hillside . . .
the long withered grass.

HDT ~ April 16, 1855

A bay-wing on the railroad fence sings. April 13 Sunday. 8 A.M. — Up railroad.  Cold, and froze in the night.  The sallow will not open till some time to-day.  I hear a bay-...

tinyurl.com/hdt-560413

Contending sparrows
on the railroad fence – bay-wings
singing the same strain.

HDT ~ April 13, 1856

Sentences, statements,
opinions. affirmations —
fruit a thinker bears.

HDT ~ April 1, 1860

A Book of the Seasons: Elms and the Purple Finch I would make a chart of our life, know  why just this circle of creatures completes the world. Observe all kinds of coincidences, as what k...

Splendid purple finch –
its glowing redness revealed
when it lifts its wings.

HDT ~ April 12, 1856
tinyurl.com/hdt-purplefi...

The pleasant ringing note of the pine warbler April 11 8.30 A. M. — To Tarbell’s to get black and canoe birch sap.  Going up the railroad, I see a male and female rusty grackle aligh...

The ringing note of
the pine warbler first heard in
the same two places.

HDT ~ April 11, 1856
tinyurl.com/hdt-560811

A Book of the Seasons: the Kingfisher I would make a chart of our life, know why just this circle of creatures completes the world. Henry Thoreau, April 18, 1852 A kingfisher f...

A kingfisher flies
in the ricochet manner
across the water.

HDT ~ April 10, 1859

tinyurl.com/hdt-kingfisher

Poetry recalls
spontaneous emotion
in tranquility

Sitting on a rock
waiting for my pail to fill . . .
I hear the sap drip.

HDT ~ April 9, 1856

Two marsh hawks circle
low along the water’s edge –
the frogs must be out.

HDT ~ April 8, 1856

Gilded bar of cloud
conducting my thoughts into
the eternal west.

The horizon glow
and the hasty walk homeward –
long winter evening.

HDT ~ December 15, 1856

The first boat on the meadows is exciting as the first flower or swallow.. April 7 Launched my boat, through three rods of ice on the riverside, half of which froze last night. The meadow is skimmed over, but ...

tinyurl.com/hdt-560407

First boat on meadows
as exciting as the first
flower or swallow.

HDT ~ April 7, 1856

The first bluish haze,
subtle vapor, blue feather
of approaching summer.

HDT ~ April 6, 1856

A Book of the Seasons: April 5 (butterflies and frogs) April 5 These truly warm days just so simple every year – butterflies and frogs. April 5, 1854 The year is but a succession of days, and I...

This April weather –
it looks repeatedly as
if the sun would shine.

HDT ~ April 5, 1856
tinyurl.com/hdt-april5