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Leaves of Grass (1891-92)
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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, trunks, 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,
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We are two fishes swimming in the sea together, |
We are what locust blossoms are, we drop scent around lanes
mornings and evenings,
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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,
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We prowl fang'd and four-footed in the woods, we spring on
prey,
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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,
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We are what the atmosphere is, transparent, receptive, pervious,
impervious,
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We are snow, rain, cold, darkness, we are each product and
influence of the globe,
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We have circled and circled till we have arrived home again, we
two,
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We have voided all but freedom and all but our own joy. |
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