University of Virginia Library

YOU and I—what the earth is, we are,
We two—how long we were fooled!
Now delicious, transmuted, swiftly we 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 what the flowing wet of the Tennessee is—
     we are two peaks of the Blue Mountains, rising
     up in Virginia,
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 fanged 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.