Annihilator of Distance

Not the astronauts circling around the Earth,

nor jet pilots breaking sound barriers,

but Henry Thoreau skating on ice,

whizzing past white birches and bright red berries,

annihilating distance between man and Nature,

recording a sacred correspondence with his mind.

The screaming jays and chirping chickadees,

the lofty white pines with red squirrels

were objects of his examination;

a space frontier barely penetrated.

Image by psd via Flickr