By Robert Castagna

        "I never found a companion that was so companionable as solitude."   
        ––Henry David Thoreau 

It was not Walden 
but on a ridge with other authors 
where I found him. 
The roots of trees 
made veins in the earth 
varicose and bulging. 
A trail of wandering musings 
about nature. 
I stood there looking  
at the oft-quoted lines 
and trampled gravesites 
where others had stood too long— 
finding communion with wilderness words and human nature.
I felt an imposter 
never reading the book. 
When I tried I realized 
it was more like Scripture— 
quote a verse and ponder. 
And so I lay nature aside 
and slowly walked away. 
Allowing solitude his sole companion. 

           *Thoreau’s grave is found at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery on Authors Ridge