How long we were fool'd
“
We have voided all but our own freedom, all but our own joy
The Gemstone Line
How does it sound? Why does it work?
The poem
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. We are trunks, foliage, roots, and bark,
We are bedded in the ground, we are rocks,
We are oaks, we grow in the openings side by side,
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 lotus blossoms are, we drop scent around lanes mornings and evenings,
We are also the coarse smut of beasts, of vegetables, and 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 until we have arrived home again, we two,
We have voided all but freedom and all but our own joy.
Give the gift of love!
Buy “Leaves of Grass” as a wedding present.