My life has been the poem I would have writ

1817 –

1862

My life has been the poem I would have writ
But I could not both live and utter it.

This poem is in the public domain.

Although he thought of himself as a poet, Henry David Thoreau's most defining work was his book, Walden.

Themes

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My love must be as free
As is the eagle’s wing,
Hovering o’er land and sea
And everything

I must not dim my eye
In thy saloon,
I must not leave my sky
And nightly moon

Henry David Thoreau

1943

Dong, sounds the brass in the east,
As if to a funeral feast,
But I like that sound the best
Out of the fluttering west

The steeple ringeth a knell,
But the fairies' silvery bell
Is the voice of that gentle folk,
Or else the horizon that spoke

Henry David Thoreau

1943