We Two—How Long We Were Fool’d by Walt Whitman

We Two—How Long We Were Fool’d

by Walt Whitman

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;

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.