First off, I would like to express my
gratitude to
dem bones for hard-linking this line from
The Waste Land. This line is perhaps the most eminently applicable to life in the entire poem. That is to say, it is a one-line manual for living well.
I guess I'd better qualify that statement.
I've spent, in total, about 10 months on the Appalachian Trail. Not bad, considering I'm only 18 years old. The mountains are the freest place in the world. It's just you and the land and the occasional fellow hiker. They also tend to be great inspiration for poetry.
In the mountains, there you feel free
I seriously would not mind spending the rest of my life wandering up and down the Appalachian Trail and the Pacific Crest trail, mooching food off the passers-by (and boy, do people ever feed thru-hikers!), and stopping only when it's necessary, to make a few hundred bucks to buy more food and clothing. I think it would really kick ass to have all that time to yourself, to think or not think, whatever you want. Because after all, in the mountains, there you feel free. And isn't that the whole point of life?