Within the Circuit of this Plodding Life
By Henry David Thoreau
Within the circuit of this plodding life,
There enter moments of an azure hue,
Untarnished fair as is the violet
Or anemone, when the spring strews them
By some meandering rivulet, which make
The best philosophy untrue that aims
But to console man for his grievances.
I have remembered when the winter came,
High in my chamber in the frosty nights,
When in the still light of the cheerful moon,
On every twig and rail and jutting spout,
The icy spears were adding to their length
Against the arrows of the coming sun,
How in the shimmering noon of summer past
Some unrecorded beam slanted across
The upland pastures where the Johnswort grew;
Or heard, amid the verdure of my mind,
The bee’s long smothered hum, on the blue flag
Loitering amidst the mead; or busy rill,
Which now through all its course stands still and dumb
Its own memorial,—purling at its play
Along the slopes, and through the meadows next,
Until its youthful sound was hushed at last
In the staid current of the lowland stream;
Or seen the furrows shine but late upturned,
And where the fieldfare followed in the rear,
When all the fields around lay bound and hoar
Beneath a thick integument of snow.
So by God’s cheap economy made rich
To go upon my winter’s task again.
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Quickie, since after chores/work in the morning, we spent the entire afternoon at the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair, where we saw pig races, goat judging, chainsaw art, beekeeping, many domestic animals, kids on rides, and lots of swag tents (I wound up with reusable bags, a stainless steel water bottle, and a Sanders 2016 button). No ducks or geese were allowed because of the avian flu threat and there were fewer chickens than usual, but we saw lots of bunnies! Adam brought four friends, so we only saw them at the very beginning and end, and due to the heat we drank lots and lots of iced tea with our fried oreos!
We dropped off all of Adam's friends at their respective houses and came home for spaghetti, since we'd all mostly eaten junk food at the fair. Then we watched Lucy, which has an atrocious crack-tastic screenplay (sorry guys but having Morgan Freeman narrate scientific nonsense does not make it believable) and too much violence, but Scarlett Johansson plays the role with such conviction and kicks so much ass that I don't even care. (There is an argument about whether it passes the Bechdel Test but I think it's a clear win, particularly since her conversation with her mother is not about men and everyone calls their mother "Mom.")