Humanizing Henry...
Regarding our Henry, don't make him a saint.
February 6, 1999
He'd be the first one to adjudge it a taint.
He was no more well-balanced than any of us.
When provoked he responded with bad-tempered fuss.
It's too easy to focus on just what he wrote
and forget he made pencils and ferried his boat
and collected strange lichens and peered through the ice
and planted big gardens for friends he thought nice.
Don't forget he was master of practical jokes
and had limited patience for scholarly folks.
Although he loved ideas and often read late
and relished a lively and heated debate,
recall he spent most of his days out-of-doors
tramping through fields or beside a pond's shores.
He drew his best thoughts from life history direct
and was often considered a social reject.
If it's sainthood we want, we'd best look elsewhere
for, as Henry knew well, they're auspiciously rare.
Copyright © Amy Belding Brown