36 Looks At a Pond

"...and here I will begin to mine." Those were the words of Thoreau, as he chose to remain in his cabin on Walden pond. Yes, but hadn't he also traveled abroad, walking out into the 'nature' of the old poets - and even spent a night in jail? Well, there's a fine pond just across the road from me, full of nature - skies rippled by falling leaves, depths pregnant with reflected clouds, distances infinite with enigmatic promise: isn't it as good a place as any to plumb my own experience?