Thoreau and Me

The simple life. Many of us believe we want it, but eschewing busyness and giving up possessions is either not so attractive when it comes down to it or is itself an unobtainable luxury. Naturalist and philosopher Henry David Thoreau famously lived a simple life in a cabin at Walden Pond—an experience he immortalized in his book Walden—but even he had to make compromises. If I had to pick a Sun author who comes closest to achieving a truly simple existence, it would be the poet Sparrow, who writes, “I don’t live off the grid, but I’m close. I live right on the edge of the grid.” Fittingly he wrote the following tribute to Thoreau.

The essay will appear in a forthcoming print issue of The Sun, but we’re sharing it early online in celebration of Thoreau’s birthday today, July 12.

—Andrew Snee, Senior Editor

 

Read “Thoreau and Me” in our October issue