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.

by: Walt Whitman

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