We two

We Two-How Long We Were Fool'd

 

 

 

WE two--how long we were fool'd!

Now transmuted, we swiftly escape, as Nature escapes;

We are Nature--long have we been absent, but now we return;

We become plants, leaves, foliage, roots, bark;

We are bedded in the ground--we are rocks;

We are oaks--we grow in the openings side by side;

We browse--we are two among the wild herds, spontaneous as any;

We are two fishes swimming in the sea together;

We are what the locust blossoms are--we drop scent around the lanes,

mornings and evenings;

We are also the coarse smut of beasts, vegetables, minerals; 10

We are two predatory hawks--we soar above, and look down;

We are two resplendent suns--we it is who balance ourselves, orbic

and stellar--we are as two comets;

We prowl fang'd and four-footed in the woods--we spring on prey;

We are two clouds, forenoons and afternoons, driving overhead;

We are seas mingling--we are two of those cheerful waves, rolling

over each other, and interwetting each other;

We are what the atmosphere is, transparent, receptive, pervious,

impervious:

We are snow, rain, cold, darkness--we are each product and influence

of the globe;

We have circled and circled till we have arrived home again--we two

have;

We have voided all but freedom, and all but our own joy.

 

Walt Whitman

 

Done