Trying To Make Wine And Getting Vinegar

So, what does Thoreau have
that I don’t? he asked.

Thoreau is dead, you said.
It’s ‘what DID Thoreau have
that you don’t.’

So, what did he?

He believed that the industrial revolution
heralded the end of mankind’s individuality.
You and I, according to Henry David,
are living desperate lives.

You should not be enamoured of the deceased;
it could be misconstrued as necrophilia.
Who’s Henry David?

You’re making my life desperate,
you said.

Your life is desperate because you are promiscuous.
What’s with this Henry David and Thoreau and all.
Who else?
I’m very concerned about this new lifestyle
of yours.

Never mind, you say,
I’m off to check out some real estate
on a rural pond in Massachusetts.