Although most of Patrava is inspired by my experience of Jewish music and traditions, this entry is an exception that proves that a Patrava (according to my mother) is an unpredictable, improvised stew. Today I’m adding a dash of the essence of Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817 – May 6, 1862). Bon appetit!

Since I was a teen-ager I have been deeply moved by Thoreau’s writing and the observations, ideas and feelings it embodies. H.D. Thoreau was certainly not Jewish! He hailed from French and Scottish Protestant ancestry but famously eschewed all organized religion and found his spiritual home in nature, in solitude and in the company of kindred spirits of all kinds. Inspired (as were many Transcendentalists) by Buddhist and Hindu texts, he practiced his own kind of mindful meditation while walking, listening, watching and writing.

Over the years I’ve been lucky enough to have visited Walden Pond many times, as well as other Thoreau haunts in Concord and on Cape Cod. But I always encounter him most vividly in his writing.

Thoreau was an accomplished amateur singer and flautist whose favorite song (other than birdsong) is said to have been the ballad Tom Bowling written by Charles Dibdin, in memory of Dibdin’s brother, (played and sung here in Benjamin Britten’s arrangement by Nicholas Phan, tenor and Myra Huang, on piano). I believe it is no coincidence that Thoreau also lost a beloved brother, his “best friend” John Thoreau who died of lockjaw at the age of twenty-seven, in Henry’s arms.

I set these original lyrics to Tom Bowling in 2017 in tribute to the Thoreau’s 195th birthday: