University of Virginia Library

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, spon-     taneous 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 beats, 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 pro-     duct 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.