“In the streets and in society I am almost invariably
cheap and dissipated, my life is unspeakably mean.
No amount of gold or respectability would in the least
redeem it,– dining with the Governor or a member of Congress!!
But alone in the distant woods or fields,
in unpretending sprout-lands or pastures tracked by rabbits,
even in a bleak and, to most, cheerless day, like this,
when a villager would be thinking of his inn,
I come to myself, I once more feel myself grandly related,
and that cold and solitude are friends of mine.
I suppose that this value, in my case, is equivalent
to what others get by churchgoing and prayer.
I come home to my solitary woodland walk as the homesick go home.
I thus dispose of the superfluous and see things as they are,
grand and beautiful. I have told many that I walk every day
about half the daylight, but I think they do not believe it.
I wish to get the Concord, the Massachusetts, the America,
out of my head and be sane a part of every day.”
– Henry David Thoreau. From the Journal (January 7, 1857)
One of several boardwalks that make up a part of the trail system of the Great Marsh National Wildlife Refuge in northern New Jersey. A great place for a walk in the woods and quiet time to reflect on life.
For more information on the Great Swamp Wildlife Refuge, visit their web site at http://www.fws.gov/northeast/greatswamp/.
Processed with Topaz Adjust plugin “Spicify” for Photoshop CS-4 for that “HDR without the HDR” look.
