"I think I could turn and live with animals,
they are so placid and self-contain'd,
I stand and look at them long and long.
They do not sweat and whine about their condition,
They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins,
They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God,
Not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented with the mania of owning things,
Not one kneels to another, nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago,
Not one is respectable or unhappy over the whole earth."
Really lovely, thank you for that. I think I would have liked Whitman if I could have met him. I found this article about his deep connection with nature:
https://www.brainpickings.org/2017/11/06/walt-whitman-specimen-days-trees/
He "suffered a severe stroke that left him paralyzed. It took him two years to recover — convalescence aided greatly, he believed, by his immersion in nature and its healing power. 'How it all nourishes, lulls me,' he exulted, 'in the way most needed; the open air, the rye-fields, the apple orchards.' "
I think I need to look into him a little more.